


Predatory

by Shadow15



Series: The Hunt [1]
Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: Abuse, Dark Thor (Marvel), Hurt Peter Parker, Loki (Marvel) Has Issues, M/M, Peter Parker Needs a Hug, Peter Parker Whump, Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder - PTSD, Rape Aftermath, Rape Recovery, Rape/Non-con Elements, Underage Rape/Non-con
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-06-24
Updated: 2018-08-06
Packaged: 2019-05-27 19:52:35
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Rape/Non-Con, Underage
Chapters: 16
Words: 37,815
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15032018
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Shadow15/pseuds/Shadow15
Summary: Thor isn't as innocent as he'd have the Avengers believe, and Peter Parker learns that the hard way.  The problem is, Thor has everyone wrapped so tightly around his finger, he knows they'd never believe him if he told them the things Thor has done to him.





	1. Chapter 1

When Tony introduced Thor to Peter Parker for the first time, the only thing that had been on Thor’s mind was the way his stomach did its usual somersaulting whenever he found something he knew he  _ had _ to have.  It had been too good to be coincidence; Thor had been visiting with his brother for the day, arriving not that long after Peter had already turned up for training with Tony.   

“Thor, this is Peter,” Tony had said, his hands on Peter’s shoulders as he stood behind the child with a proud smile on his face.  “Peter, this is Thor.” 

“Oh, wow!” Peter’s eyes had lit up so vibrantly, Thor found himself hoping his tunic was long enough to hide his growing arousal.  “You’re really Asgardian?! That’s so cool! Mr. Stark talks about you all the time!”

Thor grinned, straightening his back as he became more attentive at the scrutiny.  “I would be more than happy to talk to you about Asgard if you wish.” 

Peter looked fascinated at the offer, and Thor’s grin only widened.  He looked back to Tony now, and his eyes held a childish excitement that made Thor lick his lips in desire.  “Mr. Stark, can we talk about Asgard?!” 

Tony nodded, but at the same time he cast an annoyed glare to the corner of the room behind Thor where his third guest was seated on the couch, away from everyone else.  He couldn’t help but growl at the god, “He isn’t to go anywhere  _ near  _ your brother, Thor.  I mean it.” 

Thor also looked over his shoulder to see Loki, curled up on one of the couches with displeasure written all over his features.  He looked back at Tony with a winning smile as his voice softened into that innocent tone he’d long-since learnt would get him anything he wanted from most Midgardians he encountered.  “My brother is harmless with an Asgardian seal, Stark. He cannot use his magic, no matter how much he wants to.” 

“I don’t care; he plays with knives and Peter is  _ my  _ responsibility while he is here.” Tony fumed as he squeezed Peter’s shoulder.  “You two can talk about whatever you want, but if Loki lays a  _ finger  _ on the kid, I’ll kill him myself.” 

Thor’s expression twisted into something dark for a brief second before he relaxed into his trademark gentle smile.  “There is no need to worry; Loki has had his weapons taken from him and destroyed by Asgard. He is as harmless as a baby achkan.” 

“What’s an achkan?” Peter’s quizzical tone was almost desperate, and he looked so excited, Thor’s smile widened as he wrapped Peter around his finger more and more. 

“You do not have achkan on Midgard?” It was a genuine question, but it only drew Peter in to him further.

Peter shook his head, but before he could ask any more questions, Tony scowled and murmured, “Fine, but if anything happens, it’s on  _ you.”  _

Thor looked unperturbed as he wrapped his arm around Peter’s shoulders and walked him to the couch Loki was resting on, chattering all the way.  Peter was so absorbed in everything Thor had to say, he didn’t even notice the way Loki cringed and moved away from them, as if being anywhere near them physically sickened him.

The pair talked about Asgard for a long time, Thor telling Peter about growing up with Loki and how he became such good friends with the Warrior Three.  In turn he questioned Peter about Midgard and what it was like to grow up there, but the entire time, Peter never once noticed the way Loki remained uncomfortably silent and on edge; he was so utterly fascinated with Thor and everything the god had to say, he had no attention for anything else. 

Eventually, Thor excused himself for a brief moment, promising to get drinks for the three of them. For the first time since Peter had been sitting there, Loki moved. Loki  _ spoke;  _ a single word uttered with such disgust and hatred, Peter felt uncomfortable. “ _ Run _ .” 

Peter did not heed the warning. Whatever problem Loki had with Peter, the boy was sure they could resolve their differences in the future; he just first had to figure out why Loki hated him already when they’d only just met.  He waited impatiently for Thor to return, and as soon as the god was reseated, Peter launched into more questions about Yggdrasil.

However, Tony returned only a short time later to collect Peter and drive him back to Queens before his Aunt May lost her mind on where he was.  Peter couldn’t help the disappointed expression on his face, nor could he hold back his sad tone as he murmured, “I guess I’ll see you next time…” 

Thor nodded.  “I would very much enjoy talking to you again, Peter.”   

They waved farewell at each other.  Thor’s smile never faltered as the door closed behind Tony and Peter, not even when he looked at Loki and spoke in a such a cold tone, if anyone was around to hear it, they would have run for safety.  “What did you say to him, Loki? I saw your lips move.” 

Loki shrugged. He tried to pretend his hair wasn’t standing upright with nerves as he said with all the coolness he could muster, “I gave him advice. That’s all.” 

Thor’s smile only widened. He moved his hand upwards to cup his brother’s cheek. The tip of his thumb caressed Loki’s pale flesh as he spoke so calmly, Loki knew he was going to pay  _ dearly _ as soon as they were properly alone for the night.  “Brother, you know I love you, but if you get in the way of the things I want, I will have to hurt you.  I will get what I want, Loki, and I want  _ him _ .  You will stay out of my way.” 

Loki didn’t reply; he knew better than to get himself in trouble with Thor when all his power had been sealed away in retribution for his attack on Midgard. It was suicide. 

Although…  To be completely honest, suicide wasn’t such a bad idea at this point in Loki’s life. 


	2. Chapter 2

With a carefully crafted excuse that things were peaceful on Asgard and Thor’s presence wasn’t required, none of the Avengers found it strange Thor was showing up more and more at the compound.  

“He just misses us,” Steve suggested as explanation to their friend’s almost constant presence.  Thor’s lips twitched into a smile. That was indeed true, but it wasn’t just his friends he wanted to see. 

It was cute little Peter, who seemed to absolutely idolise him, Thor wanted to be with.  

The problem was, Peter was never around as much as the other Avengers were.  He has school, Tony had explained, but that seemed like a silly excuse; how could Peter want to go to school when he had a god he could be worshipping? 

But alas, Thor’s patience paid off when he walked into the lounge room of the Avengers Facility with Loki by his side and overheard Tony talking to Bruce and Steve.  

“His aunt is in hospital?” Bruce and Steve both looked so sympathetic, Thor couldn’t help but frown as well; despite his flaws, he  _ did  _ care for his friends. 

Tony, who hadn’t seemed to have noticed Thor’s presence, continued.  “It isn’t looking good for her. Peter’s taking it pretty hard. I told him he can stay here with me.  I’m prepared to give him a permanent home if she doesn’t pull through.” 

Thor’s heart skipped a beat at those words; if Peter lived here, Thor could see him whenever!  ...But he had an even better plan in his head he wasn’t afraid to speak out loud. “Tony Stark, may I offer Asgard as a home for him?” 

Tony, who had jumped slightly at Thor’s unexpected voice, shook his head.  “Thanks, buddy, but it’s okay; Peter will be okay with me.” 

Thor felt anger swirl in his stomach.  He knew Loki sensed it, too, as he stepped away and tensed.  He forced himself to relax before he replied. “I feel he would very much enjoy Asgard and it would be a place of retreat for whatever troubles him.”

“We really appreciate it, Thor, but humans do things a bit differently than you guys,” Bruce said gently.  “His aunt might pass away; he’s already very upset and jumping planets is something he won’t be able to cope with right now. But we appreciate your offer, Thor.” 

Thor nodded. He knew better than to insist; as much as the Midgardians trusted him, he knew not to make them suspicious.  He looked to Loki before he gestured to the couch Steve was sitting on by his lonesome. “Sit down, brother.” 

Steve smiled at Loki’s approach.  Thor truly appreciated Steve’s acceptance of his brother because nothing hurt him more than to see his other friends still struggle to treat him with kindness.  

“When will Peter be here?” Thor asked as he sat on Loki’s other side.  He wanted so badly to wrap his arm around his brother’s waist and hold him as intimately as he did in the privacy of their room, but he was sure Midgardians wouldn’t see eye-to-eye with him if they ever found out what went on behind their closed door. 

“Happy is driving him now,” Tony replied.  He checked his phone for a text, but when there was none, he continued.  “He should be there any minute now; he’ll text me when he has Peter with him.” 

Thor nodded.  “His aunt is dying?” 

“Yeah, but we don’t know if she’s going to pull through or not,” Steve explained.  

“I would like to spend time with Peter when he gets here,” Thor boomed.  “Alone. To explain to him our customs when a loved one dies.” 

It made Thor’s pants tighten when not one of the Midgardians batted an eyelid at his request; he’d learnt enough about earth to understand that humans were a very paranoid species and didn’t often trust others around their children.  

But these three…  He had their complete trust so flawlessly, Thor wanted to push the boundaries and see what he could get away with before anyone grew suspicious with him. 

“Don’t let him.” 

Thor’s jaw went taut at Loki’s words, and his hands clenched into fists as he battled the desire to choke his brother until he was weak and compliant beneath his hands.  

Thor didn’t have to say anything about Loki’s behaviour because Tony responded for him.  “Hey, it’s  _ you  _ we don’t trust, Reindeer Games.  Thor’s harmless; he wouldn’t hurt Peter, so unless you want your ass kicked back to Asgard, I suggest you shut up and stop stirring shit when it involves  _ my  _ kid.” 

Thor wrapped his arm around Loki’s shoulders and pulled him close to diffuse the tension.  He gave his trademark smile and announced, “Loki knows not what he speaks of. I assure you I will discuss with him why he is not to revert back to his trickster ways; it was one of his conditions upon which our father spared his life, and Loki knows what his punishment is for breaking his end of the bargain.” 

Loki shut up as soon as he felt his brother’s fingers dig into his shoulder so tightly, he almost whimpered.  He closed his eyes and bowed his head, trading his pride for his safety and possibly even his life. “I do apologise; I will not speak out of turn again…” 

While Tony made a murmur of, “I like him better this way”, Steve gave a gentle smile and soothed, “You have nothing to apologise for, Loki.  No harm has been done.” 

_ Yet,  _ Loki added in his head bitterly as he felt Thor’s fingers tighten.  He knew he wasn’t going to get out of this one unscathed, and already his body trembled in response. 

“So, Point Break,” Tony called out, “when Peter gets here, he might want to be alone for a while.  Don’t pressure him into talking to you if he doesn’t want to; he’s very upset.” 

“He may enjoy company,” Thor pointed out. 

“He might just want to be left alone,” Steve explained.    

Thor nodded, but he would never accept that as an excuse for Peter to avoid him; Thor was a god, and if he wanted to, he could crush Peter in the palm of his hand. 

Except, Thor didn’t want to crush Peter; he wanted Peter to love him, but so far his attempts at making his own brother love him back had failed so he wasn’t sure he would get different results from Peter.

Oh, well.  Perhaps humans were easier to break than gods. 

* * *

 

To Thor’s relief, Peter wanted comfort more than anything.  He’d clung to Tony desperately, and though it irked the darkness in Thor that Peter was touching someone else, he was able to let it slide because he knew Tony could only sit with the child for so long before he’d have to get up and leave.

Sure enough, when Tony got to his feet and explained he had work to do with Bruce in the lab, Thor dived on Peter so fast, Tony had barely finished speaking.  

“Peter, would you like to sit with me and my brother in our room?” Thor had had centuries of practise to keep his voice steady and give away no hint of his desires.  “We do not have to talk if you do not wish to.” 

Peter nodded. He looked so exhausted, Thor knew he was going to get no resistance from the child tonight.  

Thor stood up and moved to Peter’s side so he could wrap his arm around the child’s shoulders and guide him from the lounge room.  While no one was within earshot, he murmured, “My brother is still in bed. You may lay with him if you wish. I will sit with you.” 

Again, Peter just nodded.  Thor’s cock twitched; if he could get Peter to stay with him for long enough, he may have a chance to take what he wanted - but with the other Avengers still wandering around, there was too great a chance of someone walking in on them if he did it now.  

“Here we are.” Thor opened his bedroom door and walked Peter inside.  He gestured to Loki, still in the bed as promised, but certainly not sleeping.  “I am sure my brother would appreciate some company.” 

Peter looked at Loki.  His eyes widened at the sight before him, and then he spun around and grabbed Thor’s jacket in such a panicked manner, Thor’s body quivered in desire.  “He’s been attacked!” 

Thor chuckled.  He cupped Peter’s cheek as he gazed down fondly into those scared, watery eyes that held so much trust, it made Thor want to rip the child’s clothing off and force him over the bed here and now.  Instead, he murmured softly, “He has not been attacked. He has been punished.” 

Peter’s eyes widened further, not understanding.  “B-but…!” 

Thor took gentle hold of Peter’s wrist and pulled him closer to the bed.  The god’s eyes wandered over Loki’s body, taking in the bruising and cuts and tremors his body made.  His favourite thing to look at, however, was the way his brother’s face was red and wet with tears and sweat and just a little bit of blood from where Thor had clipped his eyebrow with his belt earlier.  

Thor licked his lips as he tugged the blankets down to reveal Loki’s legs, and his heart sped up as he watched his brother curl his legs against his stomach in such a fragile manner, he could  _ see  _ the vulnerability Loki was feeling.  Thor’s smile was so gentle and sincere, he truly saw nothing wrong with the way he revealed to a  _ child  _ his brother’s bloodied, torn entrance Thor had finished with not that long ago.  

Peter looked on in horror.  His grip on Thor’s jacket tightened as a fresh wave of tears fell from his cheeks.  “He’s been  _ hurt,  _ Thor…!  We  _ have  _ to  _ do  _ something!” 

It was one of the most endearing things Thor had ever seen; Peter unable to even  _ consider  _ something like this could have been done by Thor’s hand.  That amount of trust in him only made him harder, and now he couldn’t resist moving behind Peter and pressing his heavy body against the child’s.  His hands held tight onto Peter’s hips; not as tight as he wanted to as he knew not to incriminate himself, but the threat was still there. 

Thor hummed, deciding to play along.  “Someone  _ has  _ hurt my brother.  I should find who did it and make sure they  _ pay _ .” 

Peter had fallen silent now, and his body was taut against Thor’s.  Finally, he fidgeted before he whispered, “S-sorry, but… C-can you please… give me some space…?” 

Thor made sure to rock his hips slightly against Peter.  He didn’t move away. “I am irate this has been done to my poor brother.  My poor  _ husband _ .” 

“Husband…?” Peter didn’t understand; how could two brothers marry?  Perhaps it was just different on Asgard, but still…

Thor nodded.  “Our father was going to have Loki executed, but I pleaded for him to be spared.  After all… I love my brother… And if in saving his life I could be rewarded with his body, I would gladly take that…  He is my husband… My concubine…”

Peter squeaked when he felt hot breath billow against the back of his neck.  He was shaking now, his eyes squeezed tightly closed; he’d never been in a situation like this before, and with how uncomfortable Thor was making him, he was quickly realising he didn’t  _ want  _ to be around anyone in such a manner.  “...”

Thor kissed the junction of Peter’s neck and shoulder.  He moved one of his hands from the child’s hips and ghosted it across the front of Peter’s trousers instead.  “Do not tell anyone of tonight, Peter. If you do, I will tell them you asked me for my cock. Rogers has taught me Midgardians do not accept same-sex relationships.” 

Peter let out a sob.  He was stiff beneath Thor’s touch, but it only spurred the god on further.  He whimpered loudly when he felt Thor’s hand touch him again, this time with much more force as it cupped his groin and  _ squeezed _ .  

Thor licked his lips.  His fingers worked the bulge into hardness at the same time he opened his own pants and slipped his other hand inside to stroke himself slowly.  He dropped his face down again to bite at Peter’s neck, but before he could make contact, Peter had fled. 

Thor cursed beneath his breath as he zipped his pants back up and moved to the door to see where Peter had fled to.  He watched as Peter run into Natasha and fell to the ground, and he listened to what was being said.

“Hey, hey, what’s wrong?” Natasha reached down to help Peter to his feet.  

Peter was crying so hard, he was on the verge of hyperventilating.  “I wanna go home! I wanna go home! Tell Mr. Stark to take me home!” 

Natasha wrapped her arms around Peter and held him close.  “It’s okay; you’re just grieving. You’ll be okay.” 

Peter never spoke to her about what had just happened, though.  Thor grinned. He wished he could train Loki so easily, but it was okay; he liked the challenge his brother presented, and he was sure he was going to like Peter even more.  


	3. Chapter 3

Thor had been fast asleep when Tony knocked on his bedroom door some time throughout the night.  He blinked blearily and sat up as the door opened, pulling the blankets up higher to make sure they covered his and Loki’s naked waists.  He didn’t care if Tony saw him shirtless; Loki was still clothed from the waist up, and that should be enough for Tony to remain clueless as to what had occurred in that bed just hours ago.  

“Sorry, to wake you, Point Break…” Tony stepped in further so he could keep his voice low and not wake Loki, “...but can you keep an eye on Peter for me?  I got a call from Pepper; something’s wrong at the offices, so I’ve got to head off. He was asleep when I checked.”

Thor hummed.  He rubbed sleep from his eyes as he nodded.  “Of course, friend Stark. I will look after him for you.”

“Thanks.  I should be back by lunchtime tomorrow - hopefully.  Get Peter to give me a call if you need anything.” With that, Tony was gone, and Thor dropped his head back onto his pillow with a grin on his face.  

Thor turned his head to look at Loki.  His brother was passed out, and he would be for quite a while after the large dosage of sleeping pills he’d fed Loki earlier.  He’d have to thank Bruce one day for telling him he took them and what they did because stealing them from his friend’s room sure made things easy when Loki protested against them laying together.  

Thor could get up now and pay his visit to Peter, but he didn’t trust that Tony was gone yet.  He waited an hour, ignoring his arousal until he’d stood and made his way into Peter’s room.

Peter slept so peacefully, it brought a smile to Thor’s face.  He stood by the bed and reached out to stroke his fingers through his soon-to-be lover’s hair as he admired just how beautiful this Midgardian was; almost as beautiful as his precious brother but much more frail if Thor were to manhandle him the way he wanted to.  

Peter murmured in his sleep and pressed against the hand in his hair.  Thor’s smile grew. He sat on the edge of the bed and leant down to lay his body over Peter’s as he pressed his lips softly against the child’s.  His eyes closed so he could commit the warmth and feel of the kiss to his long memory.

Peter remained asleep as Thor played with his bottom lip, worrying it with his teeth and his tongue.  Thor’s breathing was hot and heavy as he put one hand against Peter’s neck and used his other to hold the Midgardian’s head so he could bite down hard enough to draw blood.

Peter woke with a yelp at that.  His eyes widened, and he instinctively tried to push Thor away, but he was powerless to move the god in even the slightest.  His eyes were full of fear, and while Thor lapped up the blood like a kitten, he groaned in appreciation.

“D-don’t…!” Peter tried scrambling away, but Thor was so strong, he needed only one hand on his hip to hold him in place effortlessly.  It was pointless even trying; he knew Thor wasn’t going to let him go and his only hope was for Tony to walk in on them and find out this way.  “Please… D-don’t…”

Thor hummed in consideration before he crushed their lips together with bruising force.  His tongue entered Peter’s mouth, trying to dance with the other that only retreated in disgust, before he licked around everywhere to taste Peter fully.  

Peter wanted to bite down.  He wanted to bite so hard, it would take the god’s tongue off.  But he knew better. Doing so would only put him in more danger than he already was in.  Tears filled his eyes, and he hoped with all his being that by some miracle, Tony would hear what was happening and come to investigate.  

Thor refused to let their lips part until he had reached down and pulled himself out of his sleeping pants.  He stroked himself for a few seconds before he pulled away and stared at the Midgardian with lust. His stroking never ceased as he put his hand on Peter’s shoulder and murmured gently, “On your knees.”

Peter knew not to, but still he shook his head erratically.  He tried once more to escape, but when Thor squeezed his shoulder so tightly, he could feel his bones turning to dust, he let his tears fall as he whimpered, “N-no…  I-I… P-please, I… I don’t… I’ve never…”

“It will be okay,” Thor murmured again.  “If you do everything I tell you to, you do not have to fear being hurt.  I will be gentle with you if you at least listen to me. My brother is the same.  I am gentle when he obeys, but it’s when he refuses to listen that I have to hurt him.”

Peter threw his arm over his eyes so he wouldn’t have to see Thor.  His tears came harder, and he felt like an absolute child as he whimpered, “I-I don’t want to…!”

Darkness crossed Thor’s face.  If Peter could see it, he would have feared for his life.  The god dragged the back of his hand against Peter’s cheek, down his neck, and across to his throat where his fingers came to caress so deceivingly gently.  He licked his lips as he settled his thumb against the child’s windpipe. “It would be in your best interests not to argue with me, Peter. You do not understand how easily your body will break in the palms of my hands.”

Peter choked and sputtered when Thor pressed his thumb down as testimony to his threat, cutting his air off. When he could breathe again, he was almost bawling his eyes out as he trembled beneath Thor.  He wanted to curl into a ball and hide, but he was starting to acknowledge the only hope he had of coming out of his unscathed was to lower himself to whatever Thor wanted from him.

Thor grinned when Peter slowly pushed himself to his knees.  Just because his concubine had taken so long to learn his place, he hummed and cocked his head to the side.  “I changed my mind. On your back with your head on the pillow. I believe you need to be taught how much easier it is to just listen.  You will learn your place, Peter.”

Peter was almost hysterical at  this. He did as he was instructed, and Thor wasted no time in grabbing his jaw in a hold so tight, it popped painfully, so he could shove himself in past those gorgeous plump lips and deep into Peter’s throat.  

Peter choked and sputtered as his body spasmed and his eyes overflowed with tears.  His nostrils flared desperately for air, and saliva pooled on his pillow as he scratched and clawed and writhed to escape, but nothing he could do was enough to save him.

He could feel the strength of the thrusts that choked him relentlessly, forcing his throat to open far more than it was accommodated to doing so.  He gagged endlessly, trying to scream around the invasion, but all he could do was lay there and take the violent thrusting as best he could.

“Oh, Peter…” Thor moaned loudly.  He angled his hips to go as deep as he possibly could so that Peter’s nose became buried against his skin.  “Peter…!”

Peter’s struggling gradually grew weaker.  He supposed it was because Thor liked seating himself in Peter’s throat and staying there unmoving until Peter’s body threatened to vomit.  Thor dragged the fingers of one hand through the sweat-drenched hair on the child’s head as he closed his eyes and enjoyed the feeling of Peter breaking beneath his touch.

Peter wanted to die.  His vision was starting to spot, and he swore his jaw was starting to break. One hand fell from where it had been clawing desperately at Thor’s shoulder to get him off, it and lay uselessly beside him as he choked and sputtered far more weakly than he ever had before.

It was when Peter had been without breath for so long, his vision was black and his movements almost completely ceased by now did he become aware of Thor moving away.  He gasped for air, taking a few moments to realise he had been asphyxiated by a hand around his throat as he could feel the ghost of such a cruel grip he feared he would always revisit in his dreams now.  

“Peter…” Thor looked grim as he moved to sit beside Peter and wrap his arm around the child’s shoulders.  He dragged the fingers of his other hand through Peter’s hair as he murmured, “You would not listen to me.  You were being a bad boy, and I had to punish you. Do you understand now why I gave you so many chances to obey me?  It does not have to be so bad if you listen to my desires, Peter.  I love you.”

Peter was in hysterics.  He could still taste Thor on his tongue, and the inside of his throat was scratchy and irritated from so much erratic thrusting that hadn’t been welcomed in the first place.  He tried to turn away from Thor, to look anywhere but at the god he felt so stupid to have once trusted. “I-I will tell M-mr. Stark what y-y-you did…!”

“You will not.” Thor moved his hand to rub at Peter’s back.  “You are too afraid to tell Stark. You know he will take my side, and you are afraid of what he will do to you if he does not believe you.  I do not want to hurt you, Peter… It would be ideal that you enjoy what we do together, too. But if I have to keep hurting you to get what I want… I will do so.  I will hurt you in any manner I see fit to have my needs met. Now, on your knees. I will be gentle to you now that you have seen the consequences.”

Peter scrambled to obey; anything to avoid a repeat of what had just happened.  He kept his eyes scrunched shut as he whimpered, his body trembling violently. His jaw was aching, but hopefully Thor would finish quickly and he could go back to sleep.

The only problem was, Peter found out the hard way Asgardians had far more stamina than any human could ever hope to have, and the pain in his jaw and throat were proof of that.


	4. Chapter 4

Peter hadn’t slept after Thor had left his room that morning.  He’d laid in his bed, staring out the window until the sun had risen and birds were chirping.  He’d stopped crying, but his body continued to tremble even after he’d pushed himself out of bed and onto his feet to find Tony.

Instead of Tony, however, Peter had run into Thor once more, in the kitchen pouring himself a bowl of cereal.  

Peter had tried to run, but Thor had moved so fast to stand in the doorway to block his only escape route, the child was sure fresh tears were welling in his eyes already at the impossibly quick movement.  He stepped back to put distance between them as he wiped at his eyes with the back of his sleeve and whispered, “P-please let me go…” 

Thor’s grin terrified Peter to no end.  He’d always believed that expression of people having shark-like grins was a ridiculous over-exaggeration, but now that he was seeing one for himself and  _ feeling  _ it devour him, he knew there was no other way to describe the look on the god’s face right now.

Thor had backed Peter up against the wall, and he stood so close to him, their clothing brushed together with every breath they took.  “Did you enjoy last night, Peter?”

Peter shook his head.  He wiped at his eyes again.  “Please, I… I-I don’t… N-not again…” 

Thor’s grin only widened.  He licked his lips before he put his hand on Peter’s shoulder so he could say, “Knowing you say no to me only makes me want to…  What’s the word Tony taught me? Ah, yes. Knowing that you tell me no only makes me want to  _ fuck  _ you even more.  I do not want to hurt you for your sake, Peter.  I do not want to hurt you as I do not feel like covering up.”

“You s-said they w-would side with you…” Peter whispered.  He didn’t understand; why was Thor so conflicting all the time?  He’d truly trusted Thor at the start, but now… He’d never feared  _ anyone  _ like he feared the god.  

“They will,” Thor promised.  “But when they see the bruises and ask what happened, I do not feel much like having to decide how you injured yourself during our training, you see?  I  _ do  _ love you, but it’s not so much  _ you  _ that I love, Peter; it is the enjoyment and the  _ satisfaction  _ I get out of knowing how much you hate me for what I do to you.  I am in love with your reactions towards me, all the emotion and the  _ fear  _ I cause you, and now that I know how beautiful you act beneath my touch, I will keep you forever, no matter what I have to do to keep you for myself.”

Peter’s tears came harder.  He looked away in shame as he remembered the embarrassment and humiliation he had been put through just hours previous.  “...” 

Thor leant down to nip at Peter’s neck.  He smirked. “I have always found it hard to have an orgasm with a willing partner.  You are so perfect beneath me, however. You make me orgasm in ways only my brother has ever been able to do so.”

“Please…” Peter looked to his feet.  His cheeks were tomato red with embarrassment, and it was the first time in his life he was glad his Uncle Ben was no longer around to know this happening to him.  He choked on a sob as he clenched his hands to his side and tensed his body. “...Please… If making me hate and being ashamed of myself is what you wanted to accomplish…  You’ve achieved your goal… Please… Please, leave me alone…” 

A deceivingly gentle smile crossed Thor’s face.  He reached his hand up to caress the child’s cheek with his thumb as he whispered, “Maybe.  But I will never be finished with you, Peter. There’s still so much fun I can have with you.” 

“I want to die…” Peter hid his face behind his arm.  “Please… You’re hurting me s-so much…” 

“Oh…” Thor put both his hands on Peter’s shoulders, as he kept his gentle deception up.  His smile brightened. “It will be okay, Peter… On your knees. My brother disappeared somewhere before I woke up, so I have not had my morning suck just yet.” 

“You’re sick…!” Peter whimpered out.

“I am not  _ sick _ .” Thor rolled his eyes.  “I am a  _ prince _ .  I am a  _ God _ .   _ You  _ should be worshipping me and my every whim.   _ You  _ should be throwing yourself at my feet  _ begging  _ me to  _ fuck  _ you.  I  _ always  _ get what I want, Peter, and you should be  _ ecstatic  _ I chose  _ you _ .  Now.   _ Knees _ !” 

Peter couldn’t have obeyed fast enough at the shout that threatened to blow his eardrums out.  As he had the night before, he kept his eyes scrunched tightly shut, repeating like a mantra in his mind how  _ Thor  _ was the sick one and Peter wasn’t at fault.  This wasn’t Peter’s fault. He hadn’t done anything wrong; it was all  _ Thor _ with the problems!

...Right?  The more time that ticked by, the harder it became to believe his own thoughts.  

Thor grinned, pleased that he had taught Peter last night not to resist; he’d waited too long for Loki to come out of hiding, and he wasn’t in any mood to have to wait for Peter to  _ finally  _ get it through his head to  _ listen _ .  

Peter gagged the second that foul taste of Thor hit his tongue.  He didn’t realise he’d closed his jaw slightly in an attempt to escape the taste - not until Thor had smacked him so hard in the ribs, he swore they cracked under the force.  He cried out and tried to pull away completely, but Thor was far too strong, and Peter knew he’d  _ never  _ be able to escape once the god had his hands on him.  

“I told you last night, Peter,” Thor snarled, “ _ no teeth _ .  I will knock every last one of them out of your mouth if you do not obey me.  Loki has already had several knocked out, so do not think I am joking.” 

Peter was bawling his eyes out once again.  He didn’t know why he was antagonising such a cruel being, but here he was, spitting back, “Then don’t  _ force me,  _ Thor!  You’re  _ horrible _ !” 

Thor smirked.  He didn’t reply back; he only grabbed Peter’s jaw and held him in place as he shoved inside with one harsh thrust.

Peter didn’t understand why he had done it.  He’d bit down.  _ Hard _ .  He heard the hiss from above him, but no matter how hard he steeled himself for his punishment, nothing could have prepared him for the fist that punched his gut so hard, his eyes watered and vomit fell past his lips immediately.  

Thor grinned down at the sight before him as he wiped away the ejaculate that had escaped him at Peter’s reaction to his punch.  He tucked himself back into his pants, pleased with his orgasm, and watched as Peter continued throwing up so violently in his winded state, the child’s face was turning purple. 

Thor licked his lips once Peter had finally crumpled on the ground, shaking and crying as he tried to process what had happened.  “I do hope you will be cleaning that up; it stinks. I will be eating in the living area. Do come find me if you want a good fuck.  We have until lunchtime alone before Stark is due back.” 

Peter didn’t move.  Part of him hoped if he laid there long enough, someone could come and find him and put two and two together.  But the other half of him was too tired, too scared and too  _ afraid  _ to want to move.  He didn’t care about being an Avenger anymore.  Spider-Man was just a faint memory in the back of his mind now.  All he wanted was to go home and stay in his bed forever and hope that Aunt May wouldn’t pull through to see him so  _ pathetic _ .  

For the first time in his life, Peter wanted to die, and it was beginning to look like the only escape he had from Thor. 

* * *

 

Peter had almost fallen asleep on the kitchen tiles when he felt a hand touch his shoulder.  He whimpered and curled into a tight little ball, hoping Thor would get the hint and leave him alone.

“Are you okay…?”

Peter cracked open an eyelid.  It wasn’t Thor now. He turned his head to the side, and he frowned at the long black hair he hadn’t noticed was tickling his cheek until now.  He let out a sob. “Please… Are you here to hurt me, too…?” 

Loki looked stoic, but his touch was tender.  If Peter was in a better mental state, he may have realised Loki was trying to lock his own emotions away at the situation.  “I am not. My brother does to me what he did to you. You are lucky… He is taking it easy on you.” 

Peter let out a sob.  He allowed himself to be sat up as he murmured, “If that’s taking it easy on me, I don’t want to know what he’ll do to me when he’s being hard on me…” 

A flicker of emotion crossed Loki’s face before it was locked away beneath his stoic expression once more.  “You are right; you  _ do not  _ want to know.” 

Peter scooted backwards so he could sit against the wall.  He wiped at his mouth, hoping he’d gotten all the vomit from his face, but he still smelled the stench on him.  His nose crinkled. “My tummy really hurts… It hurts so bad...” 

Loki moved to kneel in front of the Midgardian.  He held his hand out between them, his eyes locked on Peter’s as he murmured, “Allow me.” 

Peter nodded.  Whatever Loki had planned right now couldn’t be worse than what Thor had done already.  

Loki’s fingers were soft against Peter’s stomach, but even with the most minimal of pressure against it, Peter still keened and tried to escape the touch.  Loki’s jaw went taut, and he lifted his face to look into the child’s eyes. 

“I have been used as a warrior for well over a century.  I have seen this happen to many different lifeforms.” Loki’s eyes hardened, as did his voice.  “You will  _ die  _ without medical treatment.” 

Peter  _ wanted  _ to die.  He wanted to tell Loki to leave him alone, let him die in peace, but then he thought of Aunt May and how she would live out her last moments in agony as  _ he  _ was right now.  Uncle Ben wouldn’t have wanted this for him, either.  He couldn’t let either of them down, no matter  _ how  _ badly he was hurting.

“P-phone…” Peter raised his shaking hand to point at the phone against the wall.  Loki obeyed, and he watched the child press numbers with quivering fingers. 

An ambulance was called.  It got there soon enough, and the paramedics took only one look at Peter before he was loaded onto a stretcher and wheeled into the ambulance.  Loki watched it all happen, and once the ambulance was driving away with Peter inside, he went to find his brother.

Loki found Thor in the living area, an empty bowl beside him as he watched the TV in fascination.  He smirked at Loki when his brother stood in front of him.

“You knew  _ exactly  _ what was happening in there,” Loki demanded.  “You heard everything. You know what you  _ did  _ to him.”

Thor’s grin never faltered,  He shrugged. “Oh well. Surely he has learnt his lesson this time, brother.  I had to do the same thing to  _ you,  _ and you never bit me again.  It seems to be a very effective teaching method.” 

“He is  _ Midgardian! _ ” Loki shouted.  “He cannot  _ take  _ punches from gods!”

Thor shrugged.  “He’ll be fine.” 

“I hate you,” Loki snarled.  “I hate you so  _ much _ …” 

“You don’t mean that.” Thor’s tone softened now, and a look of hurt crossed his features.  

“Oh, trust me, Thor…” Loki leant in closer as his hiss left his lips, “...I mean every  _ syllable _ .” 

Whatever pain had been on Thor’s face moments ago was gone, anger taking its place as his hand shot out so fast, Loki could do nothing except brace himself for the hand that quickly wrapped around his throat and  _ squeezed _ . 

“You know I love you, Loki…” Thor hissed back as his grip tightened so hard, he could  _ feel  _ every muscle and ligament beneath his hold snapping, “...but if you refuse to love me back, after  _ everything  _ I have done for you…  It may be best if I stop hurting myself and finally give up on you…  If  _ I  _ can’t have you,  _ no one  _ can, Loki!” 

Loki braced himself, but before death could come, he heard someone calling from down the hallway.  Thor let go of his brother so quickly, Loki dropped to the ground as he gasped and spluttered for breath.  

It was Tony, and Thor couldn’t believe just how close he had scraped by that one as the living area door opened just as he’d grabbed Loki and thrown him onto the couch beside him.  “Hey, you seen Peter around?” 

Thor dug his elbow into Loki’s side to keep him from answering as he forced himself to speak with as much regret and apology as he could muster in his stressed state.  “I apologise greatly, Stark; we had an accident as we trained and he had to go to the medics.”

Tony’s eyes widened.  There was anger seated deep in his voice, but it was hidden behind concern as he spat out, “What did you  _ do  _ to him, Thor?!  He’s only a  _ kid! _ ” 

Thor closed his eyes.  “I am very sorry, friend Stark; he miscalculated his dodge and I struck him in the stomach.” 

Tony winced.  He knew from personal experience just how hard Thor could strike; he’d been sent flying through the air - in his armour - after just a  _ headbutt  _ from the guy!  A punch from this god with nothing to soften the blow was the  _ last  _ thing Tony ever wanted to experience.  

Tony turned around, patting his pocket for his car keys.  “He get an ambulance?” 

Thor’s eyebrows furrowed in sincere confusion.  “The flashing lights took him away.” 

That was enough for Tony; unless Thor was trying to tell him Peter had been abducted by aliens - which was a very real possibility, he was unfortunately coming to learn - then Peter was at  _ some  _ hospital.  He just had to figure out which one.  “Thor, you are  _ never  _ sparring with Peter again without someone to supervise you!” 

Thor didn’t respond.  He just looked at Loki and gave his brother his hardest expression before he stood and stalked out of the room.  Peter would be back soon enough, and Thor wasn’t finished with him yet. 

* * *

 

Peter cringed when he heard his hospital door open.  His first thought was that Thor had followed him all the way here, but when he saw Tony, he relaxed; Tony would protect him. 

...Right?

“Mr. Stark…” Peter felt his eyes well with tears of shame already.  He looked to his lap, not knowing what to say. 

“Hey, kid.” Tony shut the door behind him so he could sit by the bed.  “You alright?” 

Peter nodded.  He felt numb now that he was around Tony -  _ away from Thor. _  “I’m okay…” 

“How hard did he hit you, kid?” 

Peter flinched. “You know…?” 

“Of course I know, and when we get home, I’m going to scream at him.” Tony didn’t understand the true meaning behind Peter’s question, so when Peter burst into tears and moved towards him for comfort, he was surprised.  He ghosted his hand against the kid’s arm as his eyes widened. “Hey… What’s wrong with you? You’re not in trouble.” 

Tony was making it worse, and he didn’t even realise.  

“No! No, Mr. Stark, I want to go home!” Peter cried his heart out. “Please! I want to go home!”

“Peter, I know how hard the guy hits, but it’s nothing to be this upset over,” Tony tried.  He put his hands on Peter’s shoulders in hopes of soothing him, but all it did was remind Peter of how Thor so very liked dominating him.  “Kid! Peter! What’s wrong with you?” 

Tony was scared.  He’d never seen Peter like this, and he was scared it was his fault for leaving through the night.  His hands clenched; as soon as he got home, he was going to be having a long talk with Thor and telling him that Loki was  _ not  _ to go anywhere  _ near  _ Peter again, or Tony would be dealing with him instead.  

Tony swore, if he ever found out what Loki had done to his kid, even  _ Thor _ wouldn’t be able to save him.  


	5. Chapter 5

Peter was terrified to be back at the Avengers Facility.  The saving grace of Thor having punched him so hard was that it had kept him in the hospital away from Thor, but now that he was back…

Peter felt pathetic hiding behind Tony and out of Thor’s hungry eyesight as the three of them stood in the living area.  

“I need to talk to your brother, Thor…” Tony sounded as if he was on edge, and Peter could only wish it was because the man knew what Thor was doing.  

“There is no need; I have already spoken to him about his behaviour,” Thor replied calmly, but Peter still saw a hint of panic in his eyes.  Tony was a genius; surely he wouldn’t miss that, either! 

...But apparently he did as Tony growled, “ _ No _ , Point Break; this is  _ my  _ kid he’s done something to, and over my dead body will you keep me from finding out what he’s done so I can act accordingly!” 

Thor’s eyes narrowed, and he took a step forward that made Peter cower and cling tighter to Tony.  That fear was gone from his eyes now, and in its place was anger. “You will _ not  _ treat my brother with disrespect!  I will not allow  _ anyone  _ to be harsh with him!  I do not take orders from  _ you,  _ Stark.  My brother is in my care, and I will fight until my last breath to keep him safe!” 

Thor was sincere.  Perhaps the  _ only  _ sincerity Peter had ever heard come out of his mouth.  Whatever his problems were, he  _ did  _ seem to love his brother to  _ some  _ degree…

So if Thor  _ could  _ feel such basic emotion, why was he such a  _ monster? _

“M-mr. Stark…” Peter clutched tightly at the man’s hoodie.  

Tony glanced at him from the comer of his eye.  His tone softened. “Go to your room, kid. I’ve got this.” 

Peter left as fast as he could manage.  He fled back to his room, but upon opening the door, he found he wasn’t the only one in there; seated upon the cushions beneath the window sat Loki, with a book open on his lap and looking the most peaceful Peter had seen him. 

Loki looked up at the door’s movement. His expression was exhausted, and his tone didn’t betray that as he murmured, “I apologise; my brother will not look for me in here…” 

Peter shook his head. He closed the door gently behind him as he whispered, “He hurts you, too… You do not deserve this, Loki…” 

Loki closed the book tenderly before he looked up at the roof. He was silent for several moments before he murmured, “My brother… was not always like this…”

Peter looked to his feet.  He felt almost like an eavesdropper, listening in to a conversation he held no place in.  But still, he whispered, “Thor… is  _ sick _ …” 

“I know.” Loki closed his eyes regretfully.  “I do not know what happened to him, I’m afraid… But he used to be… so different… So gentle and loving…”

Peter didn’t know how to respond.  He knew he himself was suffering, but surely the things he was going through - the emotions he was  _ feeling  _ \- was  _ nothing  _ compared to the betrayal and agony Loki had to go through daily.  

The child looked up again, and he battled against the tears that threatened to overpower him.  “You miss him… How he used to be…” 

Loki tensed at the statement.  His expression hardened, and though Peter was sure the loathing tone the Agardian spat out was convincing to most everyone else Loki came across, it didn’t fool Peter.  “I do  _ not _ .  I cared  _ nothing  _ for him, and I  _ still loathe _ my brother!” 

Peter didn’t point out that if what Loki was saying was true, he wouldn’t have spoken with such fondness just moments ago.  But Loki was suffering, and the last thing Peter wanted was to add more pain to his burden. 

Peter’s tone softened now.  He gestured around his room before he whispered, “You can come here.  Whenever you need. I don’t mind; it’s not… a refuge for  _ me _ …  But if you need it to be one for you, you can come in whenever you need…” 

Loki fixed a piercing gaze on Peter, scrutinising the child for any hint of a lie or ulterior motive.  But he found nothing. Nothing except sincerity and the same pain he was feeling. He closed his eyes once more and gave a stiff nod.  “Noted.” 

Peter moved to his bed.  He curled up beneath the blankets, hoping it would be enough to block out the shouting between both parties in the living area.  He couldn’t deny it was frightening, the idea that Thor might hurt Tony as badly as he had hurt Peter, but he had to remind himself; this was  _ Tony Stark,  _ and once he put on the suit, Peter truly believed him to be the strongest in the world.  

The bed springs creaked under new weight that was settling so slowly, it seemed almost hesitant.  Peter pulled the blankets away from his face so he could look up at Loki. He didn’t speak; he only listened when Loki whispered, “May I… lay down…?  I am exhausted…” 

Peter nodded.  He moved closer to the edge of the mattress so he could leave room for Loki, but it wasn’t until the Asgardian had climbed beneath the blankets and curled up with his back to Peter did the child realise; if Tony came in here, hell was going to break loose.

“Umm, Loki…?” Peter sat up again, and the look of panic on his face was enough for Loki to tense.  “If Mr. Stark comes in here, he’s gonna find us… And he’s blaming  _ you  _ for what Thor does to me!” 

Loki sighed.  He pulled the blankets over his head.  “I am always blamed for my brother’s actions…  It does not faze me anymore… My brother is cruel, and it would please him to no end to know that Stark believes  _ me  _ to be the evil one…” 

“Why don’t you tell him?” Peter whispered.  “Tell him what Thor does… Mr. Stark can  _ help _ , you know…?” 

“Then why, may I ask, have  _ you  _ not told him?” Loki sounded so tired, so  _ defeated,  _ and it broke Peter’s heart.  When only silence answered the Asgardian, Loki nodded.  “You understand, Midgardian… It is not that simple… He would  _ kill  _ me - and as welcome as death is for me these days, it will be as slow and painful as he can accomplish.  It is not worth it, Midgardian. I will continue to suffer for the rest of my days, and I am powerless to do anything about it…” 

Tears welled in Peter’s eyes.  Not for himself, but for Loki. He hesitated, but then he lay back down and moved until he was curled up against Loki’s chest, his fingers clutching the the front of the hoodie Steve had bought for him to help him through the cold weather.  He said nothing about the way Loki tensed terribly; he only whispered, “I know you feel like you don’t have anyone… Like you’re all alone, but… You have  _ me,  _ Loki…  I don’t care what Mr. Stark says about you; you’ve been nothing but kind to me, and I want to help you if I can…” 

A look of disbelief settled on Loki’s face.  His mouth hang open as his mind scrambled to understand how to reply, but finally, his body relaxed and he moved his hand to ghost his fingertips through Peter’s hair.  He gave a stiff nod. “Thank you, Midgardian…”

“Call me, Peter.  Okay?” Peter smiled at the god through his tears.  

Loki nodded.  “Thank you, Peter…” 

“No problem,” the child whispered.  “Let’s get some sleep… I am exhausted.” 

“Agreed.” 

With that, the two of them fell asleep, comforted by each other’s presence.

* * *

 

When Peter woke up, Loki was nowhere to be seen.  Peter realised why that was when he ventured out of his room and to the kitchen to make himself lunch, and he heard hushed voices in the dining room.  

Peter crept closer to the door so he could listen. 

“I swear, if you don’t tell me what you did to the kid, I’m going to  _ kill  _ you,” Peter heard Tony growl.

A scoff, most likely coming from Loki, Peter knew.  “It would be most welcomed for you to kill me, Stark.” 

“Leave my brother  _ alone _ ,” Thor snarled viciously.  “I said you could  _ tell him  _ to leave Peter alone; not threaten and  _ hit  _ him.” 

“Thor’s right, Tony,” was Steve’s soft voice.  “Don’t hit Loki; just tell him what you agreed on with Thor and leave him alone.” 

“Sticking up for him, Rogers?” Tony growled.  “After what he’s  _ done _ ?  The guy deserves no sympathy.  How many people  _ died  _ because of him when he attacked New York?” 

“We are here because of Peter; not because of  _ New York.   _ Now. Leave. My. Brother.  _ Alone _ .” Peter couldn’t help but shudder at how savage Thor sounded.  He backed away from the door, not wanting to hear any more. 

“This is stupid…” Peter sighed as he shut the kitchen door behind him.  It wasn’t fair Loki was taking the fall for Thor, and part of him wanted so badly to step into the dining room and tell everyone what had happened.  

He couldn’t, though.  Loki was right; Thor would come after him, and he was terrified of what the god would do.  

“There has to be  _ something  _ I can do…” Was Peter trying to save his own skin?  Or was he determined to help Loki along the way? He didn’t know; he just knew Thor couldn’t be allowed to get away with this any longer.  “But what…?” 

As Peter pulled out the ingredients for a sandwich, he couldn’t help but ponder.  Maybe he didn’t have to tell Tony  _ directly  _ what was happening…  Maybe there was something he could do that wouldn’t fall back on him, and Tony could help get Thor away and never let him back again. 

Peter would have to think about it, though.  It’d need to be subtle, something that Thor wouldn’t understand and not realise Peter  _ may  _ have had a hand in helping get it into Tony’s own.  

The question was…  _ What  _ would that  _ be?  _


	6. Chapter 6

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is a very messed up chapter, so if you feel like it could be bothering for you, please tread with caution. If not, I really hope you enjoy it. I also apologise for the wait; I have been caught up with real life fortunately.
> 
> Regarding update schedules; classes start back for me in two weeks, so I don't know how quickly I will be able to continue updating if this is not finished by the time university starts back.

A week passed by uneventfully, as if Thor had become wary of Tony finding out what was going on, but Peter’s wishes that the god would stop had been unheeded; just as he’d feared, his bedroom door still opened late one stormy night. 

“Peter~” Thor’s voice was slurred, and Peter wasn’t surprised; the Avengers had been drinking together in the living area that evening, and he’d seen how easily Thor was downing the drinks far quicker than any mortal should dare attempt.  

Peter pulled his blankets up over his head.  He said nothing, too scared to give Thor ammunition to use against him - not after the punch to his stomach he had received and never again wanted to experience in any shape or form.  He considered slinging a web at Thor and keeping him plastered to his wall while he went to find Tony and bring him there, but as strong as his webs were, he knew Thor was stronger and it would only give the god more reason to hurt him.  

Thor closed the door behind him and staggered over to the bed.  Mjolnir was with him this time, and if Peter had seen it, he would have cried in terror of the implications.  He grasped the blankets and pulled them away to reveal the child, and at Peter’s frightened quivering, he smirked. 

Peter yelped when he felt a crushing weight directly on his spine.  He tried to move, but it was hard to do so when he felt as if a steam roller was slowly driving over his back.  The solid weight shifted, as if someone was moving whatever it was around until they were satisfied with its position. “W-what are you d-doing…?” 

Thor ignored the question so he could reach into his pockets and withdraw the ropes he had taken from Tony’s lab prior to coming here.  He hummed happily to himself as he bound Peter’s feet together before he forced the child’s arms behind his back and tied his wrists next.  Finally, he spoke. “It is easier when they don’t struggle. I used to do this to my brother… But Banner introduced me to the stuff that makes Loki sleep through it. I would have given you some… but I want to hear your pretty noises when I  _ fuck  _ you.” 

Peter opened his mouth to protest, but it was the wrong move; Thor thrust fabric into his mouth and then secured it with a third rope tied at the back of his head.  The weight on his back never left, and Peter was powerless. 

“Are you going to behave this time?” Thor’s breath was hot against Peter’s ear.  The tips of his fingers ghosted down Peter’s lower spine and to the hem of the child’s pants.  

Peter screamed for Tony, but all that came out were muffled squeals Thor barely took notice of as he pulled Peter’s pants down.  He squeezed his eyes shut when he felt the cold air against his nether regions, but that was a short-lived acknowledgement that quickly faded from his mind completely when he felt something wet against his entrance.  

Peter felt as if he were falling into a panic attack, and his instinct was to thrash and writhe and do whatever it took to get away - but with what he could only assume was Mjolnir slowly crushing him, he could do little more than lay there and try to get the gag out of his mouth so he could scream.  

From behind Peter, Thor worked on opening Peter up with his tongue so he could slide it inside and get a good taste for what he was about to fuck.  Peter’s trembling body only made it tighter, but that was okay; Thor liked the idea that he could be as rough as he wanted and Peter only had himself to blame that force was required with him.  

Thor rubbed his fingertips along Peter’s tailbone as he pulled his mouth away and murmured, “You are very tight, Peter…  I hope you will still be this tight when I fuck you.” 

Peter’s response was too muffled for Thor to make out what he had said, but the god didn’t care; he pushed his tongue back inside and moved his hands to take hold of Peter’s hips and squeeze them so tight, the child was squealing under his touch.  

Peter’s walls didn’t show any sign of loosening any time soon.  He  _ wasn’t  _ going to loosen because Peter didn’t  _ want  _ this, Thor had come to learn from his experiences with Loki; his brother tended to put up such irate struggles, his body was always far too tense to loosen up.  Thor loved it like that; his partners’ cries and pleas for him to stop were always so delicious and he was sure he could get off on that alone if he were to ever try.

Maybe Thor could try the theory out with Peter one day...

Peter could feel the bile climbing his throat.  He swallowed it back down, not wanting to give Thor any more reason to hurt him.  It was a disgusting sensation; having Thor’s tongue inside him and moving around like he were some sort of candy treat he just  _ had  _ to lick all of.  He shuddered to think how much more disgusted he was going to feel when Thor entered him properly; he’d never thought he’d be with another male before, but here he was, having his virginity stripped from him bit-by-bit by a person he’d only ever had such massive respect and admiration for since such a young age.  

Peter could only hope Thor would get too carried away and accidentally kill him. 

One of the hands left Peter’s hips and came up to caress his cheek in an almost loving manner.  Peter cringed, and everywhere he felt the god’s skin touch his own, he made a mental note to scrub himself raw and tear his skin off if that was what it took to get Thor’s touch off his body.  

Thor leant up to rest his chin on Peter’s shoulder.  His lips were in a crooked smile as he murmured, “Best you prepare yourself,  _ Midgardian _ .” 

It was the only warning Peter was given before his body was split in half in one powerful thrust that slammed him against the headboard of the bed.  He screamed around the gag as fresh tears rushed down his cheeks, but Thor didn’t give him any time to get used to the feeling; the thrusts came without reprieve, and Peter couldn’t stop screaming.  He understood why Thor had chosen tonight to do this; under the cover of the thunder roaring outside, the god’s actions were disguised well. 

He’d been split open, Peter could feel.   _ Badly _ .  He didn’t know much about how sex with two men worked, but he knew they weren’t supposed to bleed as heavily as he could feel himself doing so.  He wanted to throw up again, certain that he could feel the god in his  _ stomach  _ with every thrust Thor made.  

“O-oh…” As loud as Thor naturally was, he was quiet during sex.  His moans were small as he focused on thrusting in with as much force as he could muster, his pace rapid and unrelenting as Peter’s body spasmed beneath him.  

But Thor’s movements were  _ too  _ powerful, and with a loud crash, the bed fell apart on them.  Thor cringed and held himself still as he listened for footsteps approaching, but there was none; only a loud snort from someone in the next bedroom before they fell silent again.  He grinned; he’d chosen the perfect night to do this while everyone was too intoxicated to distinguish anything from the thunder above. 

Peter’s body continued to spasm, and Thor smiled fondly down at the child.  He picked Peter up and cradled him in his arms as he unsteadily got to his feet.  “I should have taken you to my room; Stark had my bed custom-made in case I were to lay with someone.” 

With Mjolnir in hand, Thor staggered drunkenly with Peter to his own bedroom.  He nudged the door open and elbowed the lightswitch on, and once that was done, he kicked the door shut.  He was careless as he threw Peter onto his bed next to Loki - who, once Peter looked at in terror, found the god in a position no different to his.  

Thor smiled at the scene before him.  “Beautiful… I will fuck you, Peter. And then you and my brother will satisfy each other.  I have fantasised about that for so long now; I cannot wait any longer to watch.” 

Peter tried to wriggle away, and Thor couldn’t have that.  He dropped Mjolnir onto his spine once again, and his smile widened at the howl he was presented with as Peter’s spine arched in pain.  

Peter squealed once more as strong hands gripped his wrists and pulled him down the mattress to Thor once more.  His body instinctively tensed for the intrusion, and it came seconds after Thor wrapped an arm under his stomach and held his hips in the air for him to thrust into.  

It was horrible.  Agonising, humiliating,  _ dehumanising,  _ and Peter wanted to  _ die _ .  Every thrust caused him unbearable pain to the point he was sure his  _ throat  _ was bleeding from how much he’d been screaming against his gag.  And then, just when he was sure he couldn’t take it anymore, Thor stopped and flipped him over to lay on his back.  

“I want you to look at me as I release myself inside of you.” Thor grinned, and the thrusting continued.  

By now, Peter had almost succeeded in locking himself away inside his mind.  His screaming had stopped, his throat too raw and scratchy to be able to do much more of it, and the expression on his face was blank, his eyes lidded and staring almost unseeingly ahead of him.  

“Peter~” At Thor’s loud groan and the gush of liquids inside him, Peter came back to reality.  He sniffed back tears as he realised what it meant. 

But if Peter had thought he was finally safe, he was wrong, because Thor had barely taken a breather before he was hard again and flipping the child onto his hands and knees now.  It wasn’t fair, Peter screamed over and over in his head. They’d already been here for what could the alarm clock next to him had told him was an hour, and Thor wanted to go  _ again _ … 

Peter attempted to lock himself away inside his mind just as he had before, but now that he’d been snapped out of it, he wasn’t finding it easy to go back to the nothingness inside his mind.

Thor’s thrusts were even more vigorous the second time around.  He held Peter’s waist tightly as he pounded away like his life depended on it, his breathing harsh as he focused solely on his own pleasure and nothing else.

“Oh…  P-peter…” Thor leant forward and bit down hard on Peter’s shoulder.  He sucked at the wound as he closed his eyes for a few moments, but when he opened them again, he looked to Loki and grinned at the terror-stricken expression on his face.  “Are you enjoying watching, brother? Do you want your turn already?” 

Even if Loki  _ wanted  _ to reply, he couldn’t; not with the gag firmly in his mouth.  His eyes narrowed and his nostrils flared with anger, and all he wanted was to wipe that smirk off Thor’s face.  He couldn’t, though; his wrists were bound to the bars of the headboard to keep him going off anywhere, and his feet were in much the same position.  

Thor laughed.  “You will get your turn, brother.  Have patience.” 

But as much as Thor wanted to drag this out and get all the pleasure he deserved, he knew he couldn’t; it was getting closer and closer to the moment everyone would start waking.  He sneered, and without any care for Peter’s comfort, his thrusts became sloppy and aggressive, aimed solely at trying to make himself come from the friction. 

Thor succeeded, and without any care for the blood and semen flowing from Peter’s abused entrance, he grabbed the child by the neck and threw him on top of Loki’s legs.  He licked his lips as his body started shivering in desire. 

“Use your teeth…” Thor couldn’t hold back his moan at the imagery in his head.  “Use your teeth and get Loki’s pants down. Then suck him until he releases down your pretty throat, Peter~” 

While Loki tried to thrash as best he could to get Peter away from him, Peter hastily obeyed; terrified of the repercussions if he didn’t.  Tears dripped from his cheeks and onto Loki’s exposed midriff as he tried his hardest to pull Loki’s pants down. He accomplished it eventually, but then came the hard part of trying to get the god hard so this could be over and done with as soon as possible.  

Thor licked his lips again.  “You look bothered, brother. Would you like me to blindfold you so you can pretend it is me sucking you?” 

As shameful as it was, Loki nodded; he couldn’t get it up with this kid - not when he knew Peter was as forced as  _ he  _ was - but at least if he could pretend it was his brother, then there was  _ one  _ willing party involved…  

It was indeed easier when Loki didn’t have to feel as if he himself was the rapist here, but it was still hard to keep himself aroused when he could  _ feel  _ the inexperience Peter held.  But still… As long as he could fool himself into pretending he wasn’t raping this poor child…

Loki whimpered as he came early.  Or… Maybe it wasn’t early and he just hadn’t been able to have an orgasm at knowing what was happening.  He heard Peter choke, and his self-loathing only continued to mount.

But then, Loki felt one of his wrists being released from its prison, and he snarled against the gag as he lashed out to claw at where he sensed Thor was sitting.  He cried out when his brother caught his fist and squeezed it so hard, his hand broke; he should have known not to be so fucking stupid…

“Now.” Thor held no care at all that Peter was still choking, Loki knew.  “Loki. My sweet brother. My beautiful husband. Touch Peter and give him a  _ real  _ orgasm.” 

Loki heard Peter squeak before the child’s weight fell on him.  He’d been tossed yet again, Loki knew. His hand throbbed from the broken bones and ligaments that were probably dust by now, but he had little time to worry about that; Thor grabbed his wrist and forced it around Peter - who felt so impossibly flaccid, Loki only hated himself more.  

Loki knew not to fight anymore, but no matter how hard he tried, he just couldn’t get Peter any further than half-hard.  Part of him was relieved over that; he didn’t need to feel any sicker than he already did if he were to know he’d forced an orgasm out of such an unwilling partner.

* * *

 

Peter’s eyes snapped open when he heard something hard hit the wall.  He cowered at the panic-stricken look on Thor’s face; Thor looked  _ murderous  _ in his fear, and Peter hoped the god wouldn’t notice him. 

But of course, Peter was no longer getting  _ anything  _ he wanted, and his eyes welled with tears as Thor fixed him with a piercing look.  He dragged the blankets up to his chin and sobbed. 

“There is blood in the hallway,” Thor mumbled.  “And your bed is broken. I was too drunk; I did not think things through properly…” 

Peter squealed when a hand shot forward to rip the gag from his mouth.  Mjolnir was taken from his chest as well, but he was powerless to speak. 

Thor’s hand reached out and grabbed Peter by the throat.  “If you tell Stark, I will  _ kill  _ you.” 

Peter nodded rapidly.  He watched with wide eyes as Thor stomped over to the other side of the bed, and it was now he realised what the bang had been; Loki had been thrown out of bed and against the wall, and Thor was now proceeding in stomping on him as he called desperately for Tony. 

The god’s yelling eventually roused people, and as soon as they started piling into the room, Thor forced tears to his eyes and put on his most devastated, innocent act.  “M-my friends…! M-my brother has… My brother has done something so horrible…!” 

Tony pushed past everyone to get to Peter’s side.  He looked horrified as he took in the boy’s pale, clammy skin and sickly expression.  He ignored Thor on the other side of the room, crying as he told them how he’d passed out on the couch and just came in and found Loki forcing himself upon Peter. 

Tony scooped Peter up in his arms and carried him over to Steve, paying no further attention to the suspicious marks on Peter’s body that instantly had him questioning  _ everything _ .  “Take him to my room. Get him away from this.” 

Steve obeyed, and now that Peter wasn’t around to see, he turned around with a murderous expression on his face.  

* * *

 

When Tony came in to check on Peter, Steve was by the boy’s bed as Peter slept. Tony stood by Peter’s side and murmured, “How’d you get him to sleep after something like that…?” 

“Banner gave me some of his sleeping pills,” Steve whispered.  “He said he’s noticed them starting to go missing…” 

Tony hummed at the information.  He reached out to take Peter’s hand, and now that they were no longer in chaos, he pulled the blankets down and worked on unbuttoning Tony’s sleeping shirt Steve had put on him. 

“What are you doing?” Steve whispered.

“I saw something on him earlier,” Tony whispered back.  “Didn’t you?” 

“Well… Yeah, but…” Steve rubbed the back of his head nervously.  “I don’t think it’s what it looks like.” 

“I went into his  _ room,  _ Rogers,” Tony murmured.  “What I found… doesn’t match up with what we know.  Peter’s bed is broken, and I wish I’d checked before I beat the shit out of Loki because Loki doesn’t have that kind of strength anymore…” 

Tony opened up the shirt to reveal the bruising on the boy’s chest, in a perfect rectangle that could only mean something heavy had been dropped on him.  “Help me roll him over.” 

Once again, that bruise was there, over Peter’s spinal cord, a perfect match to the first one.  Tony and Steve looked at each other. “Loki can’t lift that hammer, can he?” 

They didn’t want to believe it.  It  _ was  _ possible Peter had simply been caught in the crossfire if Thor had been throwing Mjolnir around earlier, but then Peter would probably be dead if that was the case. 

So what could this mean…? 

Tony rubbed at his face.  “Stay here with him and let  _ no one  _ in to see him.  I’m going to check the security footage.  Didn’t Thor say he passed out on the couch?” 

“Yeah.” 

“He didn’t.  I watched him go to bed when I was coming back down the hallway from the bathroom.  He mustn’t have seen me; most of the lights were off.” 

Steve clenched his hands to his sides.  He squeezed his eyes shut tight as he tried not to think about the implications; if Thor had done something to Peter, he… 

No way… Thor was too gentle and sweet to do anything like this… 

* * *

 

Peter had been awake for a little over an hour when Tony returned, and with just how grim the man looked, Peter instantly blamed himself.  He tried to roll onto his side so he could keep his back to everyone and hide beneath the blankets like a pathetic child, but his body hurt too much.  His fearful gaze met Tony’s disgusted one. 

“A-are you mad at me…?” Peter whispered. 

Tony’s eyebrows furrowed.  He wasn’t sure his voice had ever been so soft when he replied.  “Kid… Why would I be mad at  _ you _ …?” 

Peter shrugged and looked away.  “...Dunno…” 

Tony chewed at his lip and looked to Steve.  They held each other’s gaze for several moments before Steve nodded and moved away from the bed to allow Tony proximity.  Tony reached out to take the boy’s hand and hold it, but when he earned a whimper and Peter pulled his hand away, he knew not to touch.  He cleared his throat. “Mind if I double-check your injuries, kid?”

Peter let out a sad sob and curled into a ball.  “Captain already treated me…” 

“I know…  But I’m worried,” Tony tried.  He was relieved when he received a tiny nod in response, and as tenderly as he could, he pulled away the boy’s clothing to reveal all the marring he had refused to take much notice of previously.

Tony couldn’t believe what had been going on under his nose.  The tips of his fingers brushed against a set of teeth marks that had, by now, almost faded, and he knew they weren’t from Loki as they didn’t match up to his jawline.  The bruising from what could only be Mjolnir was still prominent, and with how wide apart the finger marks and handprints were all over Peter’s body were, Tony knew they belonged to Thor purely from their size.  

Tony closed his eyes.  Everything matched up with the security footage he had reviewed, all the way back to Peter’s arrival, and he’d never been more ashamed of himself than he was now to have not even noticed what was going on.  He’d been blinded by trust in Thor, but now he felt as if he couldn’t even trust _ himself  _ if he could let this happen for so long.  “There was no training accident when you got sent to the hospital, was there, Peter?”

Peter cringed at the question, but he gave no response.  “...”

Tony frowned.  He reached out to play with Peter’s hair as he whispered, “You got punched in the stomach because you wouldn’t suck Thor off…” 

Peter let out a sob as he turned his head to look at Tony from the corner of his eye.  “How did… you know…?” 

“I checked the security cameras, kid…” 

Peter couldn’t hold back the tidal wave of tears now.  “I-I’m s-sorry…!” 

Tony’s voice became stern now as he gripped Peter’s shoulders tightly.  “Kid! Don’t you  _ ever  _ apologise for what he did to you!  You have done  _ nothing  _ to be sorry for!  It’s  _ me  _ who should be apologising!  Kid, I’m dealing with Thor and then you’re never going to have to be around him ever again!” 

Peter  shook his head as his tears came harder.  “H-he’s g-gonna kill m-me…!” 

“Not if I kill him  _ first,  _ Peter,” Tony growled.  “Stay here. I’m going to deal with it right now.” 

No matter how much Peter begged and pleaded, he couldn’t stop Tony and Steve from leaving him, and when it became apparent a huge fight had broken out, he couldn’t help but blame himself; if he’d just been easier to rape, than no one would have ever had to find out and they wouldn’t be getting  _ hurt  _ because of him…!  

There was yelling from down the hall, Peter could hear, seconds before the door to Tony’s room was thrown open and Thor had charged in.  Peter screamed when the god grabbed him and held Mjolnir out threateningly at the rest of the Avengers who had chased him inside, bloodied and bruised and  _ electrocuted _ . 

“I will kill him!” Thor roared.  He shook the child violently, before he snarled to Peter, “I told you not to tell them, Peter!” 

Tony, from within his suit, put his hands out in front of him and spoke as calmly as he could manage.  “He  _ didn’t  _ tell us anything, Thor; I checked my security cameras!  It’s not his fault so let him go!”

“I don’t know what sucarity cumerers are!” Thor screamed.  “Peter told!” 

Peter opened his mouth to protest, to whimper and scream and beg for his life, but before he could do so, Thor had jumped backwards through the window and then leapt away into one of the fields. 

Thor raised Mjolnir into the air.  “Heimdall, open the Bifrost!” 

That was when Peter knew he was screwed. 


	7. Chapter 7

When Peter’s eyes slowly opened, he wasn’t really sure what had happened.  He remembered Thor had grabbed him, and then the Bifrost had opened, but everything after that… 

Well, his brain was a  _ little  _ foggy after finding out just how much it hurt to have Mjolnir slammed into his head.  

Peter whimpered quietly as he tried to work out where he was, but nothing he could pull from memory matched the almost golden glow this large, open chamber held.  He did hear voices, though, so after closing his eyes, he listened as closely as he could to what was being said in hopes it would help him place his location.

“I could not leave him, father.” It was Thor, Peter recognised, and he couldn’t help but cringe; had he been brought to Asgard, after all?  “You do not understand how loathsome those Midgardians were to him. I could not leave him to endure their cruelty any longer.”

“My boy, how would  _ Midgardians  _ draw your blood?” The second voice was one Peter didn’t recognise, and that only stressed him further.  

“They are not ordinary Midgardians, father,” Thor replied softly.  “The medics tended to my brother when I brought him back to Asgard after his attack - while I returned to Midgard to save Peter.  The medics were… horrified by the injuries they found on both Loki and Peter, and they understood why I was not able to leave Peter to suffer any further.” 

Peter shivered when he heard footsteps approach him, and he did his best to feign sleep in hopes they wouldn’t realise he had been listening in.  It was hard to remain neutral when he felt fingers drag gently through his hair, but he couldn’t let them know he was awake; who knew what they’d do to him if they knew he’d overheard?

“You can’t possibly think of keeping a Midgardian on Asgard, Thor,” said the second voice.  “Preposterous.” 

“I cannot send him back there,” Thor said softly.  “The horrors I endured to get him away from them… I cannot give him back to them!” 

Peter was glad they’d chosen this moment to leave the room and continue their argument elsewhere because he couldn’t hold back the cringe that came with those words; Thor was trying to make himself out to be some sort of hero and reflecting his own actions upon the Avengers.  It was disgusting, but what could he do? He wasn’t on earth anymore where he had Mr. Stark and the others to help him out of sticky situations - here, he was all alone and without anything he could use as a proper weapon to protect himself.

“You are awake.” 

Peter cringed at the words, but when he recognised Loki’s voice, he calmed slightly; despite what had happened between them, he didn’t fear the god who had only been acting out of self-preservation.

Footsteps came from a room off to the side of the chambers.  Peter turned his head to look properly, finding what appeared to be some sort of small study area with a window overlooking an ocean.  What Peter wouldn’t give to be able to jump out of that window and meet his doom... 

If Loki was up and walking about, did that mean…  No, Peter had heard Thor talking; Loki had endured medical treatment, too.  Loki had been hurt as well, and that knowledge  _ ached _ .  

Peter wanted to roll onto his side, but his body ached too much attempting such movement, so he stayed on his back.  He sniffed. “I’m really going to die here, aren’t I…?”

“...” Loki was tentative until he was sitting by the bed next to Peter.  The tips of his fingers were touching as he stared down at Peter carefully.  “...Not necessarily… If Thor wanted you dead, he’d have done so in front of your friends just to make a point.  He wants to keep you.” 

“Oh, god…” Peter rubbed at his eyes.  “I wish he  _ did  _ kill me…” 

Loki hummed softly.  “He knows he can gain favour with Asgard by playing a hero.  He knows he can spin this into something that benefits him, and there is only one who would dare speak out against him.” 

“You…” Peter whispered.

Loki nodded.  He moved closer as a pensive expression crossed his face.  “...Heimdall… has tried previously to warn Odin about what Thor is like.  ...But Thor spun it into treason, and everyone believed Thor… Even Heimdall knows he can do nothing with Odin still on the throne…” 

Peter cringed again.  “I want to go home…” 

“I do not blame you,” Loki said softly.  “But do not expect to see your friends again.  Thor will be out for blood.” 

“Thor…  Thor wouldn’t hurt them!” Peter exclaimed.  “They’re his  _ friends _ !” 

“Friends who now know what he’s like,” Loki pointed out.  “You thought he wouldn’t hurt  _ you,  _ but here we are.”

It fell silent after that statement.  Peter knew Loki was right; Thor wasn’t who they’d thought he was, and if they hadn’t known him at all, how did they know  _ what  _ he was truly capable of when provoked?  Hell, Peter hadn’t done  _ anything  _ to him, and look what happened!  

It was Loki who broke the silence.  “Would you like a calming drought?” 

Peter looked at the god with teary eyes.  “S-sorry…?” 

“A calming drought.” Loki gestured to the room he had emerged from.  “I learnt how to make them after our mother died. I often take them because of Thor…” 

Peter winced at a sharp pain that seemed to almost tug at his spine.  “Is there anything for pain…?” 

“Not as of yet.  I apologise. I am of Jotun blood; my resilience far outweighs any Midgardian.” 

Peter nodded.  “I-I’d l-like one…  Thanks…” 

Loki nodded.  He stood up and left, but when he returned, it was with a small bottle in hand.  He removed the corkscrew and passed it to Peter, watching the child as he drank all of it greedily.  “My brother will not stop now that you are here. He will see you as his own personal plaything, and there is no one bar Thor’s father who can get in the way of this.” 

“Then tell him,” Peter almost begged.  “ _ Please _ !  I d-don’t want t-this!” 

An exhausted expression crossed Loki’s face now.  “You think I  _ haven’t  _ tried?  Midgardian…  I have  _ begged  _ him until my tears ran dry and my voice was no more.  He does not trust me. No one trusts me anymore. They treat me as a snake - as  _ your  _ friends did when I tried to warn them.” 

“For what it’s worth…” Peter whispered as he wiped at his eyes, “...I never believed you were what they said you were…” 

Loki’s expression twisted into something Peter couldn’t put his finger on.  His eyes closed. “...Thank you…” 

“I don’t believe  _ anyone’s  _ really a monster, deep down…” Peter whispered.  “Even Thor… He’s just… lost his way…” 

Loki turned pained now.  “What if he was always like this, and I just never noticed…?”

Peter shook his head.  “He’s your brother; you would have noticed, Loki…  I hope one day he comes back from the darkness… But  _ he’s  _ not evil, and neither are you…” 

Silence once more.  And then… “Do you  _ hate  _ my brother, Midgardian…?” 

With all the seriousness that Peter could muster, he murmured gently, “I don’t hate  _ anyone,  _ Loki.  I… am very  _ afraid  _ of him…  But I can’t bring myself to hate him…  I don’t think he’s  _ truly  _ a bad person...” 

“Even after all that he has done to you…  You are indeed strange, Midgardian,” Loki mused.  “I myself? I loathe my brother with everything I have in me.” 

Peter shook his head.  “I’m just not good at hating people…  I like to see the good in them rather than focus on the bad…” 

“And what good does my brother have left in him?” Loki spat bitterly.

“...I don’t know just yet…” Peter whispered.  “But I’m sure it’s still there if you look hard enough…”

And with that, a comfortable silence fell between them as they each entertained their own ponderings. 

* * *

 

To Peter’s relief, Thor hadn’t sought him out.  Loki had stayed with him, keeping him company and showing him nothing but kindness and decency, and Peter couldn’t help but feel his chest puff slightly; wait until he told Mr. Stark how Loki - oh right…  They’d probably never see each other again… 

But then came the knock on the door and three female Asgardians entered with fabrics in their arms.  Peter didn’t understand why they’d insisted on changing him out of his Midgardian attire and into some sort of fancy robe that was too big for him, but Loki was calm about it, so how bad could it be?

“Prince Thor requests both your presences for his celebration feast!” One of the women said, far too exuberantly for Peter’s comfort.  He saw Loki rolling his eyes so far back into his head, they were at danger of never coming back around. “You must arrive now! Everything is already set!” 

The women left after they’d tidied Peter’s hair, and he couldn’t help but look at Loki in fear.  “I…” 

Loki made no effort to hide the loathing on his face.  He took prideful strides towards the door, but Peter still saw the falter in his gait; Loki’s pride had taken as much of a blow as Peter’s had, and all it was right now was appearances.  He looked over his shoulder at Peter and said coldly, “It is wise to act grateful towards him and not make a fuss about it. He will reward you for your cooperation, however cruel it still may be.  But it could be worse.” 

Loki hurried to catch up to Loki.  He held on tight to his friend’s green robes, and as hard as he tried to do as Loki had advised, it wasn’t easy to keep the anxiety at bay when they stepped into one of the biggest dining halls he had ever seen in his sixteen years of life.  

Peter didn’t miss the way Loki grimaced at the sight of Thor, seated at the head of the biggest table in the room and truly looking the part of the pampered prince he had often made out to be.  He tried to swallow past the golf ball in his throat, but it was hard to do so when every step he took turned his legs to jelly and he hoped with all his being that the ground would open up and swallow him whole.

“Ah!  Peter!” 

Peter cringed at the overly-excited way Thor greeted him.  He frowned at the black eye and split lip the god donned, and upon further inspection he found several gashes on his left cheek and a bruise forming on the side of his neck.  He almost didn’t say anything, but the way Loki nudged his side subtly as he passed by had him taking a deep breath and stuttering, “...H-hullo…” 

Peter could feel the entire room watching him as if he were the most fascinating thing to have ever walked the earth.  His skin crawled, and his trembling became worse. He tried to sit at the seat that was behind him, but before he could do so, Thor reached out and grabbed his wrist with such a gentle hold, Peter  _ knew  _ whatever care he was going to show here and now was nothing but an act.  

“Loki, sit there, please,” Thor said softly.  “I want Peter to sit by my side tonight.” 

Loki seethed, but he did as instructed.  It was the first time in so many years he had willingly sat by Thor’s side, and he had only done so to spare Peter whatever may be searching for him - but, as usual, no matter how hard he tried, he was just a fuck up in the end…

Peter’s eyes squeezed tightly shut, and he gave a whimper as his body tensed in preparation for an assault when he felt a heavy hand clap down on his shoulder and squeeze.  

“This is Peter!” Thor announced proudly to the crowd as if he were showing off some sort of hard-earned trophy.  The thought made Peter feel nauseous. “As you can see, he is still very much afraid of what those other Midgardians have done to him.” 

Peter heard someone from the crowd call out, asking something about Peter’s ‘rescue’.  He heard Loki huff from beside him, but he didn’t dare open his eyes just yet; he was almost too afraid to do so.  

“Ah…” A sad hum left Thor’s lips as he feigned a frown.  “I am afraid my ‘friends’ were not as I thought they were, to have done such depraved things to this child…  My father was right when he warned me that Midgardians would only serve to disappoint me… My father was correct…  But I am deeply humbled that in my disappointment, I was able to help Peter and get him to safety.” 

Loki muttered something under his breath, and while it grabbed Peter’s attention, Thor heard it as well.  Peter whimpered again when he felt the hand on his shoulder squeeze in agitation.

“But my husband!” Thor leant across to wrap his arm around Loki’s shoulders and squeeze him against Peter in an awkward one-armed hug.  “My husband also had a hand in discovering what was happening! It was his bravery that led to Peter’s rescue. He braved the attack of the Midgardians while being so powerless himself to try and help.  As soon as I got him back to Asgard to be treated, I returned to Midgard and took Peter away from them.” 

It was bullshit, and Peter couldn’t stop tears from rolling down his cheeks.  He opened his eyes to look around the room, and though everyone was still as fascinated with him as before, his eyes eventually met the golden ones that seemed to burn through him as if he were made of glass.  He sucked in a startled breath to see that this armor-clad Asgardian wasn’t scrutinising him; instead, through his seemingly-neutral expression, Peter  _ swore  _ he could see sympathy. 

Peter turned to his side and tugged at Loki’s sleeve.  He winced at the growl Thor made at his attention being on someone  _ other  _ than him, but he didn’t turn away; he simply whispered, “Who is the guy with the golden eyes…?”

“Heimdall,” Loki whispered back.  He lifted his gaze to fix on Thor’s unrelentingly as he added, “He  _ knows _ .” 

Thor gave no response to those words.  He turned back to his platter in front of him and dug in,  _ hopefully  _ because he had gotten bored of talking about Peter already, the child wanted to think.  

Peter didn’t eat anything that night, no matter how delicious the food looked.  He stared down at his lap, giving little responses to anything other than Loki’s gentle prompting, until Thor excused the three of them to retire to their chambers for the night.

The door had just closed behind them when Peter let out a squeal at the rush of movement in the corner of his eye; Thor had moved so fast, all Peter had seen was Loki up against the cement wall with his brother’s hand around his throat, holding him up off the ground.

Thor leant in close to Loki’s ear.  “I may have shared Peter with you, Loki, but do not get me wrong.  Listen well, brother… Peter is  _ mine _ , and unless I  _ say  _ he can have your attention, you do not encourage him to choose  _ you  _ over  _ me _ .” 

Loki glared back down at Thor fiercely, despite his air being cut off.  He didn’t reply verbally; he simply spat down at Thor. 

Peter hugged himself now; Thor was going to go on a rampage judging by the fury on his face…  

But, to the child’s surprise, Thor simply dropped Loki to the ground, grabbed Peter’s wrist, and stormed away towards his chambers.  

As Loki had told Peter earlier, Thor rewarded good behaviour, and Peter quickly found out what Loki had meant by that when the god took him again that night, this time much more gently and lovingly.

Peter still hated it, though.  After everything Thor had done to him, Peter was sure he was  _ always  _ going to hate it.  


	8. Chapter 8

“You both look so beautiful…” Thor’s eyes glinted with what Peter had come to learn over time was malice as the god surveyed Peter and Loki from where they stood together in the study.  “What do you think of the three of us having fun together tonight? Loki, I apologise for having been neglecting your needs as of late; Peter is very tempting…” 

Loki scoffed.  “What needs? The need for you to go and drown yourself?   _ Please  _ do remedy that, brother; it would be most welcomed.” 

Peter winced at Loki’s words.  He didn’t know if time on Asgard moved differently to how it did on earth, but if it moved at the same pace, then it must have been  _ months  _ since Thor had abducted him.  In that time he’d come to learn that Thor’s temperament was short, and it was only too easy to earn his wrath.  

As expected, Thor’s fist made contact with Loki’s cheekbone, and he spat venomous words at his brother that Peter did his best to not listen to.  As hard as he’d tried to shut his mind off, it quickly became impossible to do so when his chin was grabbed in mock-tenderness and his head was turned so he was staring at Thor’s face.  He grimaced in fear. 

“But  _ you _ , Peter…” Thor tucked a stray tuft of hair behind Peter’s ear as he smiled, “... _ you  _ never give me any trouble.  I am starting to think I should trade Loki for you instead.  You are much more desirable. So small and fragile beneath my hands…  Obedient and pleasing… And you do not talk out of place. You are quite the perfect little pet.” 

Peter’s eyes darted away to stare at the wall behind Thor now.  He shuddered when he felt a hand on his hip. His eyes closed, and he braced himself for the inevitable; no longer could he put up resistance to Thor because all it had ever accomplished was draining him more than he had to be.  

Peter went limp in Thor’s hold as his clothes were torn impatiently from his body.  He tried locking his mind away, but Thor had already caught on to this and had learnt how to keep him conscious of everything being done to his body.  He whimpered when teeth bit through the flesh on his shoulder so blood could roll freely down his skin. 

The first sob escaped Peter when an unwelcome hand wrapped around him and made the first stroke.  It was a game Thor so very much loved playing with him; taking note of how fast he could make the child orgasm and ensuring that Peter knew he was getting faster every time.  

But it so seemed that Thor was  _ too  _ impatient tonight as he didn’t even care to order Loki to stay and watch; he only grabbed Peter by the hips and threw him across the room and onto the bed that haunted Peter’s dreams every night.  

Thor climbed on top of Peter so quickly, it was almost as if there had never been any distance between them in the first place.  He nuzzled his face into Peter’s throat as his hands roamed, feeling the cold, clammy skin that had become so pale, Peter looked as if he were on death’s doorstep these days. 

“Mmm…” Thor licked at Peter’s nipple as his hands caressed the smooth of his victim’s bottom.  “You are always ready for me, Peter…” 

It was a lie, because every  _ damn  _ time was absolute agony for Peter.  He didn’t have a choice in the matter; Thor didn’t prepare because he just shoved inside and  _ took  _ whenever he pleased.  His voice was weak as he moaned, “No…” 

Thor chuckled.  His breath was hot against Peter’s skin as he moaned, “It does not matter what you say; all that matters is what I  _ want _ .” 

It was the only warning Peter was given before his body was forced open by a familiar intrusion.  He couldn’t help but wail in pain, having already learnt that no one was going to come and save him, so he may as well hurry up and learn to get used to this and  _ maybe  _ it would be just a little easier on him.  

Peter’s wailing only spurred Thor on, though.  It was something Peter knew, but no matter how hard he tried, he’d never been able to stop himself from crying in these moments.  Sometimes he sobbed silently to himself, and others he screamed, but it didn’t matter; as long as Thor could  _ see  _ how distraught his victim was, it would get him off.  

Peter cried out at a particularly aggressive thrust that left blood in its wake.  His arms wrapped around Thor’s neck and his nails clawed violently as he cried harder at the pain.  “M-mr. Stark…!” 

Thor sniggered.  He stilled his hips just long enough to gather Peter’s gaze so he could murmur, “Do you pretend that I am Stark, Midgardian?  Does it get you off to think of him?” 

Peter pulled his arms away and wiped absentmindedly at his eyes.  He shook his head. “I-I… d-don’t… l-like m-m-men…” 

“Oh.” Thor’s smirk widened.  “After all this time, you still think Stark will come and rescue you?  How do you think they will find their way to Asgard, Peter? I bid them good luck with that endeavor.” 

“H-he’ll look f-for me…” Peter whispered.  “Y-you know h-he will…”

“And if he could find a way to enter Asgard, I would have heard about it by now,” Thor promised.  He thrust his hips forward violently to catch Peter off-guard. “They will never enter Asgard without my knowledge, Peter.  And if they ever did… They will not make it past the Bifrost Bridge  _ alive _ .” 

Peter’s wailing started back up, but otherwise he laid compliantly beneath Thor’s assault.  He’d long-since lost the emotional and mental energy to fight this, and now all he could ever bring himself to do was lay still and hope it would all be over soon. 

It was when a strong hand wrapped around Peter’s throat did his cries come harder.  He knew what was waiting for him; any second now Thor was going to squeeze down and cut his air off until he was on the verge of passing out.  It was another favourite game of his, and one of Peter’s most hated. When that grip tightened, Peter could only hope Thor wouldn’t let go this time and  _ finally  _ put him out of his misery.

But someone up above seemed to have been listening to him for once as there came a knock at the chamber door, and Thor could only curse as he pulled away from Peter and re-dressed himself.

Peter lay helplessly in the bed, barely able to move from previous assaults he still hadn’t healed from, and Loki took it as his chance to approach now and hastily don Peter in his clothing.

“Was’ hap’ning…?” Peter slurred as his bleary eyes settled on Loki.  He turned his head to the side again so he could listen to the conversation in the next room.  

“Your brother sought council with me recently,” Peter could make out amongst the sounds of Loki rushing about the room.  “He sought my council to escape back to Midgard. I feel you should know what he is planning.” 

Peter mumbled something that didn’t even sound like English to his own ears, but apparently Loki understood him just fine as he murmured, “It’s Heimdall; he’s buying us time.  Come on; get  _ up,  _ Peter!” 

But Peter was too far gone, and Loki cursed to himself when he had to drop the two bags he was holding in favour of getting Peter into his arms.  Finally, once he could juggle the weight of everything, he hurried towards that same window Peter had often fantasised jumping out of.

Loki made their escape, but as he carried Peter, he couldn’t help but fear what had been done to the child in his absence; he had been sure he could hear him talking to Thor just fine moments before Heimdall’s appearance, but now…

Loki couldn’t think too much on it, he had to get them out of here  _ now _ while they still had time.

Peter seemed to have come back to his senses by the time Loki got them to the stables and saddled one of the horses.  Though his voice was still slightly slurred, he murmured, “Where are we going…?” 

It wasn’t easy for Loki to get Peter up on the horse while all his strength had been sealed away.  “Heimdall is keeping Thor distracted. We’re going to hide until Heimdall can open the Bifrost for us.  Thor knows that’s the first place we’d go to, so we need to hide out for a while.” 

“We’re going back to Mr. Stark…?” 

Loki froze in hanging the bags off the saddle so he could look at Peter with wavering resolve.  He licked his lips before he nodded and whispered, “Yes…  _ You  _ are…” 

Peter didn’t question the strangeness of that response; he was too agreeable in this moment, and Loki soon realised why that was when his eyes slipped closed and he slumped forward, fast asleep.  Thor had done something to Peter, and Loki was afraid to find out what exactly. 

* * *

 

Asgard was in chaos as Thor had the Aesir out stomping around in search for Peter and Loki, no doubt having been fed something about Loki betraying them all once again and holding Peter prisoner somewhere.  Loki couldn’t help but scrunch his lips up in a snarl at the thought; Thor had everyone around him fooled, and whenever Loki dared speak up against his brother, it earned him nothing but distrust and pain. 

“I’m so cold…” 

Loki broke out of his thoughts at Peter’s whimper.  He looked down at the body laying next to him, Peter’s head resting in Loki’s lap as he hugged his trembling body to try and fight off the chill prominent in the cave they were hiding in.  He reached out and pulled the child into his arms. “I apologise. No one else knows of this cave. I forget how cold Midgardians get so easily.” 

Peter snuggled in against Loki in desperate search of his warmth.  He sneezed before he looked up at the horse tethered across from them, and in the glow of the setting sun, he looked far more sickly than he had the entire time he’d been in Asgard.  “You’re really… taking me home…?” 

Loki nodded.  “Trying to. We will leave for the Bifrost Bridge under the cover of night.  ...I expect it’s possible Thor may be waiting there… But we have Heimdall on our side.  As long as you get back to Midgard, that is the important thing.” 

A hurt expression crossed Peter’s face.  “You’re not coming with me…?” 

Loki frowned.  “Midgard does not want me, Peter.  I will never be welcomed there as my brother is.  I will… just be outcast again for the rest of my long life…” 

Peter shook his head.  “My friends won’t outcast you, Loki…  I-I mean… Ned… Ned would be so  _ excited  _ to meet you, Loki…” 

“I am a trickster by nature; I will only do something to cause more hate against myself.  I cannot help myself, Peter,” Loki whispered. He hugged Peter tighter against him, hoping his body warmth was enough to fight away the chill.  “I will never be welcomed upon Midgard. I belong nowhere and fit in with none.” 

“But  _ I  _ want you,” Peter whispered back.  “You’re my  _ friend _ , and  _ I  _ welcome you, even if no one else does…” 

Loki closed his eyes.  “Are all Midgardians as strange as you are?” 

Peter laughed softly.  He fell silent for a few moments before he whispered, “I’m scared Thor’s going to get me again…” 

“I’m not going to let that happen,” Loki assured.  “I swear… I’m not letting him get away with what he’s done…” 

Peter cracked open an eyelid to look up at Loki.  “Please… No more violence… I don’t want there to be any more fighting…  There’s been enough of it already…” 

Loki sighed.  “Midgardians… Odin always spoke so poorly of you lot.  Yet Midgardians never cease to amaze. Disappoint… But amaze…” 

Peter moved closer to Loki.  “Not all of us are a disappointment…  If you gave us a chance, you’d find some really great people…” 

“Hmm…” Loki pondered for a few moments before he shook his head.  “I have little trust in the Midgardians who have reason to hate me…  The night has fallen.”

Peter allowed himself to be picked up and helped back onto the horse, and from there, he fell silent until Loki had ridden them out across the Bifrost Bridge and to the armor-clad Asgardian Peter remembered was called Heimdall.  

Heimdall observed the two newcomers, and calmly he addressed them.  “Thor should be wandering the east by now after I told him that’s where I could see you.” 

Loki nodded.  He dismounted the horse and grabbed their bags.  “Thank you, Heimdall. We will -” 

Whatever Loki had been about to say vanished from his mind when a crack of lightning roared down between he and Heimdall.  He heard the horse spook, and when he turned to see what was happening, he was just in time to see Peter fall off it when it reared back in panic.  He tried to grab the horse and pull it away from Peter, but he wasn’t fast enough to stop it from stepping on him as it turned and fled. 

Thor had returned, and he was  _ pissed _ .  He was standing between Loki and the Bifrost, preventing them from leaving Asgard.  Loki flinched; he knew that with his power sealed, he could do nothing to stop Thor.

“Leave them be, Thor.” 

Loki looked back to Heimdall.  He chewed at his lip as he assessed the situation.  Heimdall was strong, but with Thor in such a frenzied state, could he hold his own?  What if Heimdall was killed, and Loki couldn’t get the Bifrost open without Hofund? With Thor like this, there was no telling what could happen.  

“You dare stand against  _ Thor _ ?!” Thor roared as he held Mjolnir out in front of him.  He was almost foaming at the mouth as he glared daggers into Heimdall.  “I will  _ kill  _ you for treason!” 

Heimdall moved into a defensive position and drew Hofund.  He gave a nod to Loki before he met Thor’s charge, with that, Loki tried to avoid their wild attacks as he made his way to Peter’s side.  

Peter was still breathing, his eyes moving around as he grimaced in pain.  There was blood flowing from the side of his head, and his body seemed limp, but Loki couldn’t worry about that now; he could only scoop Peter up into his arms and try to work out how to get past Thor and into the observatory.

There was really no other option but to make a run for it.  Loki took a deep breath and braced himself, trying his damned hardest to avoid the rabid lightning strikes that seemed almost to be lashing out at random.  He slipped past Heimdall, and the observatory was in sight, but he couldn’t make it; Mjolnir had been thrown at him, and when it connected with his lower back, he was thrown forward so hard, Peter was tossed from his arms and across the bridge.  Loki rolled himself over onto his back to see Thor charging him down, and though he drew the small daggers he had stolen before his escape ready to slash and hack his way to his death, Heimdall was in front of him, dodging the blow and retaliating with his own. 

Loki dragged himself to Peter, and though he couldn’t seem to get himself to his feet, he still grabbed the child’s wrist and did everything in his power to drag them both into the observatory and away from the direct line of fire.

“Peter, I’m sorry…” Loki was at a loss.  For a genius, he felt as if he knew nothing.  He could see no way out of this, not without Hofund, and if Thor won…  They would only  _ wish  _ they were dead.

Peter didn’t respond.  Loki didn’t know if it was because Heimdall had just come crashing past them into the wall or if it were something else, but there was no time to question; not when Thor was stomping towards them, and Heimdall was stunned.  

Loki slashed out once with his daggers when his brother’s hand reached for him in what felt like slow-mo, but he quickly ceased hsi attack; this opened up only one possible scenario, and Loki was going to take it.  Maybe it was selfish on his behalf… But if that selfishness could _ finally  _ get him away from Thor and  _ maybe  _ help Peter in the process…  He was going to take it. 

Loki choked and sputtered as Thor picked him up by the throat and walked him out of the observatory, but his eyes still locked with Heimdall’s over Thor’s shoulder, and he received a nod of understanding in response. 

From where Peter lay, he could only watch as Thor got closer and closer to the edge of the bridge, but before he could see what happened, someone had grabbed him, and he felt himself being thrown into what felt like a giant vacuum.

Peter screamed all the way through his unexpected journey until finally, he crashed into the cement roads of New York City and people stood, stunned, at what they were seeing. 

And then, people came rushing to him, the wailing of sirens barely touched his consciousness, and the reality of everything that had happened hit him like a cement truck.  His eyes rolled into the back of his head, and everything went black. 


	9. Chapter 9

When Peter awoke, it was to a white room that smelled of steriliser and beeped incessantly at him.  He knew he was alone, and he wanted to push himself up into a sitting position to get a better look at what he knew couldn’t be anything other than a hospital room, but he couldn’t get his body to cooperate. He resigned himself to looking around as he lay on his back.

There was no way he was still on Asgard; all the equipment surrounding him was far too advanced for an Asgardian, which begged the question; how had he gotten back onto earth?  He recalled snippets of what had happened - however long ago that now was, he didn’t know - but what he remembered still didn’t answer his questions; they only raised more. 

Such as, was Loki still alive…?  Peter scrunched his face up as he recollected watching Thor standing at the edge of the bridge and dangling Loki over the abyss with his hand around the trickster’s throat.  He didn’t know if Loki had been dropped or thrown or anything that Thor could have done to kill him then and there; his memory went fuzzy at that point until it ended with a brief memory of him laying in the middle of a road.   

Peter couldn’t cry, though.  He didn’t know if he’d ever be able to cry again.  He felt so empty inside, as if everything that had once made him Peter was  _ gone _ and now he was just a shell of who he used to be.  

Peter couldn’t mourn his losses for long, though.  The pain in his body was getting more and more pronounced, and all he could do was tense and whimper in hopes that the pain would leave soon.  

As if someone had listened to his prayers, the door to his hospital room opened and a nurse came in.  She smiled at him as she moved to the drip machine, and as she pressed buttons on it, she announced, “You have a visitor.  He hasn’t left your side for three weeks now.” 

Peter’s voice was so hoarse, he barely understood himself when he mumbled, “Three weeks…?” 

“You were brought in two months ago,” she replied softly.  “We had a lot of trouble contacting someone, but then he walks in one day and said he heard about you being here and he thought you might be his.  He hasn’t left you since he came to see if you were really his.” 

Peter groaned in relief when he felt liquid flood his veins.  “Then where is he now…?”

“Organising your dispatch from hospital; he wants to care for you at home now that you’ve been doing better.  You chose a good time to regain consciousness properly. You’ve been drifting in and out of it for a while now.” 

Peter didn’t remember slipping in and out of consciousness; as far as he’d been aware, he’d just woken for the first time since escaping Asgard.  He remembered nothing between now and hitting the streets of New York  _ hard _ .  But he didn’t care too much on it because what  _ really  _ bothered him was not knowing who the nurse was talking about; for all he knew, Thor could be out there to bring him back to Asgard…

But Peter didn’t have to stress on that for too long because when the door opened again and Tony poked his head inside, relief flooded him and all he wanted was to curl up in Tony’s arms and never leave again.  

“You’re awake, kid…” Tony was smiling, looking just as relieved, but there was something in his facial expression that Peter still recognised but couldn’t put his finger on, and he found himself worried about what had happened since he’d been gone.

And then, Peter’s eyes caught on to the massive scar that traveled down from beneath the sleeves of Tony’s shirt, past his elbow, and then dipped around from the back of his wrist to the front of it where it then ended at the middle of his index finger.  He cringed. “Mr. Stark… Your arm…” 

Tony nodded.  He touched his face self-consciously, which was what drew Peter’s attention to the gash across his forehead now.  “Don’t worry about it, kid; we’ll be okay.” 

Peter didn’t question any further; he had a feeling he already knew what had happened, and the last thing he wanted right now was to think about Thor.  He tugged his blankets up higher with an arm that barely seemed to work, and though the nurse was leaving, Tony was coming closer. 

“Kid, I don’t want you to think we abandoned you…” Tony reached out to touch Peter, but when Peter cringed away from his hand, he pulled back, and he seethed in hatred and anger towards Thor.  Everything he had on his tongue ready to say was forgotten as his hands clenched and his nails cut into his palms. “...” 

Peter frowned.  “S-sorry…” 

“What are you sorry for?  You have  _ nothing  _ to be sorry over!” Tony couldn’t keep the edge out of his voice.  “When we get our hands on Thor, we’re going to -” 

“- _ D-don’t _ !” It was Peter’s yelp that shut Tony up.  Peter shook his head and whispered, “N-no more violence…  J-just… Just leave him alone… No one else needs to get hurt…  Just… Forget everything he did and drop it…” 

“After what he  _ did  _ to you?” Tony wasn’t going to take that advice.  He was going to get his hands on Thor, and when he did, the god was going to regret everything he ever did to Peter.  

...But if he said any of this to his kid, Peter was going to hurt even more.  

“No more fighting…” Peter reached out a trembling hand to ghost the tips of his fingers against the back of Tony’s hand.  “No more… I’ve seen enough violence…” 

Tony sighed.  He changed the subject.  “I’ve organised for you to be brought back to the facility tonight.  I need to go and get everything ready for you, so are you going to be okay here on your own?”

Peter shook his head, and his frightened whisper said it all.  “What if he comes for me…?” 

“He won’t,” Tony promised.  “I’ve got people all throughout the hospital; Thor won’t get past anyone without us knowing.” 

Peter wasn’t convinced, but at the same time, he was too exhausted to argue.  He closed his eyes in resignation and whispered, “I hope if he  _ does  _ come back for me, he kills me, Mr. Stark…  Promise me if he kills me… You won’t go after him…  I’m so tired of all the senseless violence… Please, just let him kill me so it can end...” 

Tony’s throat tightened so much, he couldn’t even form a response.  He simply reached out and snatched up Peter’s hand to hold it tight and squeeze before he let go and exited the room.

Peter’s exhaustion only grew from there, and he was sure Tony had only been gone for minutes when he fell into sleep once more.  

* * *

 

Peter couldn’t see much from the back of the ambulance, but when it finally stopped out the front of the Avengers Facility and the doors were opened to slide his stretcher out onto the ground, his eyes widened at what he found.

One of the patient transporters whistled in astonishment as his eyes surveyed their surroundings.  “Wow, that guy really did a number on the place.”

Peter didn’t need to be told anything about why there were so many contracter vehicles parked around the facility as people scurried to rebuild so much of the buildings around them, Peter had to question why Tony didn’t just relocate elsewhere and start fresh; Thor had been here, and he had torn the place apart.  

Peter said nothing as Tony came out to greet them. He stayed silent and kept his eyes scrunched closed so he didn’t have to see what he was being wheeled through, not wanting to know what had happened here because of  _ him _ .  

“Put him in here.” 

Peter opened his eyes again at the sound of Tony’s voice.  He looked around to see where he was going, and he couldn’t help but wince as he recognised Tony’s bedroom door opening; was Tony going to keep him for himself now…?  

Peter didn’t voice his concerns, not until the patient transporters had left and he was alone with Tony.  There was no misinterpreting the heartbreak and betrayal in his tiny whisper. “Are you going to keep me as your sex slave, too, Mr. Stark…?” 

Tony couldn’t help but shudder at the question.  His response was delayed, but carefully thought about.  “...Anyone, and I mean  _ anyone,  _ who thinks it’s acceptable to keep someone purely to satisfy their sexual appetite…  Will be personally introduced to the sharp end of Barton’s arrows when I shove them through their skull, Peter…  You are only a  _ kid _ …  Not  _ anyone’s  _ sexual relief…” 

“Then why am I in your room…?” Peter was exhausted, mentally and emotionally, and Tony could  _ hear  _ that in the boy’s response.

“Because I’m not leaving you in a room you had so much shit happen to you in, Peter!” Tony exclaimed, horrified.  “I can move you in with Romanov - or Banner, or just… Just  _ someone _ if you want me to!  But I’m  _ not  _ putting you back in that room after what happened to you in there!” 

Peter’s eyes closed again in resignation.  “I don’t ever want to have sex again, Mr. Stark…”

“I can’t blame you, kid,” Tony said softly.  “Are you feeling okay? Do you need painkillers or anything?” 

Peter shook his head.  “I just want to be hugged… But I don’t want to be touched…” 

“I’ll give you as many hugs as you want if you ask me for them, but don’t tell  _ anyone  _ about that, Peter; they’ll think I’m going soft, and I’ve got a reputation to upkeep.” 

For the first time in what felt like an eternity, the ghost of a smile graced Peter’s face.  “Can you stay with me until I fall asleep…? I’ll feel safer with you, Mr. Stark…” 

“Sure, kid.  Want a hot chocolate or anything?”

“Mmm…  Hot chocolate sounds nice…  With marshmallows…?” That tiny smile grew just a little more.    

Tony nodded.  “Your wish; my command.” And with that, he pulled his phone from his pocket to text someone to bring them hot chocolate and coffees before he prepared himself for his stay with Peter.  

* * *

 

Peter awoke from nightmares, but when he opened his eyes and found Tony was still with him, he allowed his focus to shift from terror.  But whatever happiness he’d found at seeing Tony was replaced by a frown when he tried to move closer to Tony and found his lower body wasn’t moving easily.  “M-mr. Stark…” 

Tony turned away from the movie he had been watching to give his full attention to Peter.  “What is it?” 

“I can’t move my body properly…” Peter sighed.

“The nurse said that when you were brought in, a lot of your bones had been crushed…” Tony’s hands clenched by his sides.  “They said there had been fractures in your spine that had healed wrong… You still have movement; it’s just… going to take a lot of rehab to get you up and going again…” 

Peter nodded.  He pulled the pillow next to him into his arms so he could hold it tight and whisper, “He… broke my bones…  So I couldn’t run away… He kept re-breaking them if they healed, but… Sometimes he broke them as punishment…  He broke my back with Mjolnir because Loki… didn’t want to… t-to…”

Tony’s cheeks became suspiciously wet as he murmured, “He made you have sex with Loki…” 

Peter nodded.  “Every day… He forced us to pretend we both enjoyed it…  He made me… M-made me…”

Tony wanted so badly to take Peter into his arms and hold him and promise him he didn’t have to talk about  _ anything  _ he didn’t want to or wasn’t ready for.  But instead, his cheeks only became wetter as he watched Peter struggle with so much internal dilemma, it was distressing just  _ seeing  _ it.  “...” 

Peter looked away in shame as he whispered, “He forced me to moan…  And c-call Loki’s name… Hold onto him and kiss him… Touch him… A-and…  A-and I…” 

Tony sniffed back tears.  Hearing all this was painful, but the hardest part of everything was knowing that everything Thor had done to Peter… still hadn’t hit the boy yet.  He was hurting, but Tony knew Peter’s mind had numbed everything that had happened in order to try and cope. “He made you orgasm…”

Peter nodded.  He wasn’t crying; he still felt too empty and void of proper emotion to be able to do so.  Instead, all he felt was shame and self-loathing, and he could only whisper, “Can I please die, Mr. Stark…?” 

Tony couldn’t stop himself; he dived forward and pulled Peter into his arms to hold him tight as he growled through his river of tears, “ _ No one  _ is dying in my bed, Peter…   _ No one _ …” 

“What if they really, really want to…?” Peter whispered as he tried to pull away from Tony’s hold.  

“Then they’re not going to get their wish.” Tony clutched at the back of Peter’s shirt desperately as he held the boy tighter.  “We’re going to get through this… I’m going to get you all the therapy you need -  _ whatever  _ you need, you’re going to get it, Peter.  I  _ swear _ .” 

Peter’s shoulders sagged in disappointment, and all he could respond with was, “Please let go of me…  I can’t bear to be touched right now, Mr. Stark…” 

Tony did as requested.  He got to his feet and wiped his eyes.  “I’ll be back… I just… D-don’t you dare tell people I’ve been crying…” 

Peter nodded, and though he knew Tony was only trying to lighten the situation, he couldn’t help but feel threatened.  He pulled the covers over his head, not sure if he wanted Tony to come back to his side now, and all he did was replay his time in Asgard over and over again in his mind like a broken record.

Maybe it was lucky his spine had been damaged, because he was sure that if he could walk properly, he’d have dragged himself out of bed in search of the first thing he could use to kill himself.  

But no matter how much he entertained the idea of suicide, he couldn’t help but remember; if Loki had died for his safety… 

Then Loki would have died for nothing at all, and Peter wasn’t sure if he could let him down so badly after everything Loki had done for him.  


	10. Chapter 10

For the week since Peter had been back in Tony’s care, he hadn’t left his bed for anything but toilet breaks.  It was because Peter was so scared, Tony had put rules on how many people could visit him at any given time, so even though everyone worried for him, the Avengers still gave him plenty of space. 

It was while Peter sat upright in Tony’s bed, resting against the mountain of pillows Tony had lovingly fluffed for him just moments ago so he could eat his breakfast, a knock came at the door.

Tony looked up from the desk on the other side of the room, forgetting the paperwork he had been looking over at Peter’s whimper.  He offered a smile. “You’re safe, Peter. I promise. You had a guest arrive last night; they’ve been anxious to see you.”

Peter flinched at those words.  Though he knew Tony would never allow Thor visitation rights, he couldn’t think of any other possibility except for Loki.  ...But  _ was  _ he ready to see Loki again...?  No… Was Loki even  _ still alive _ …?

“You’ll be okay, Peter,” Tony assured.  “I  _ promise _ .” 

Peter trusted Tony.  He nodded and braced himself when Tony called out for their visitor to enter, but no matter how hard he tried, he couldn’t keep his heart from racing.  

It wasn’t what he’d been expecting, though; not when the door opened and Peter caught sight of that golden armor he recalled from his time on Asgard.  “H-heimdall…” 

Heimdall was here and in the flesh, and he  _ smiled  _ at Peter with such gentleness, the tension in the boy’s body slowly ebbed away.  Peter felt his cheeks flush slightly as he gave his own shy smile and looked at his lap; the respect he had for this Asgardian was paramount because no one else had been interested in helping he or Loki.  “Good morning. Are you well?” 

Peter nodded.  He tried not to focus on the scars he could make out on Heimdall’s face that hadn’t been there the last time he’d seen him, so shyly he whispered, “Is Loki okay…?” 

“Loki is doing well,” Heimdall promised.  “Quite well. We expect Thor to remain rather busy with the… unruly guests we invited into Asgard.”

Peter looked uncertainly at Tony before he turned his attention to Heimdall once more.  He chewed at his lip before he voiced his concerns. “But Thor… isn’t going to come back for us, is he…?” 

“He might.” Heimdall moved further into the room so he could sit on the bed next to Peter.  “But you are forgetting the advantages we have. I will see him coming, and your Midgardian friend here has rallied quite the army.” 

Peter frowned.  He looked to Tony once more.  “Army…?” 

Tony couldn’t help but smile.  “Kid, you didn’t  _ really  _ think we’d leave you with  _ him,  _ did you?  With the people I got onto our side, we were going to storm Asgard - and then I heard talk on the streets about some kid falling from the sky…  Now they’re here to fight with us if Thor comes back.” 

Heimdall nodded.  His soft, gentle demeanour was relaxing for Peter as he murmured, “We were able to get the seal off Loki last night.  He is going to rest for a long while as he recovers his power. But Loki is a force to be reckoned with on his own, and Thor acknowledges that.” 

Peter chewed his lips once more.  “...Do you think he  _ will  _ come back…?” 

Heimdall nodded.  “Eventually. But the Midgardians here have been welcoming towards us, and we have allied ourselves with them rather than Asgard this time.  I cannot serve the king who turned a blind eye to his son’s actions.” 

Peter nodded slowly.  His hands started to shake as anxiety took over, and though his mouth opened and closed, he could not get anything out.  

Heimdall smiled gently.  “Would you like to hear stories of Asgard, untainted by Thor’s darkness, little one?” 

Peter closed his eyes.  It was reminiscent of how he’d been so excited to learn about Asgard from Thor…  But somehow, he just couldn’t bring himself to fear Heimdall, and he gave a tired nod.  

With his breakfast forgotten, Peter fell asleep to Heimdall’s comforting voice.

* * *

 

Peter had been left alone while Tony held a meeting with the Avengers and their new allies.  He hadn’t stayed in bed, though; without anyone there to keep him company and help him fight away all the bad thoughts, he was finding himself growing more and more panicked until he needed desperately to leave the room and find Tony to help him. 

He grabbed his new set of crutches from where they leant against the bedside drawers, and carefully, ever so slowly, he got out of bed and onto his feet.  Just as he found with physiotherapy, walking on his own was unpleasant, difficult and humiliating in that his right leg dragged almost uselessly behind him, and his left leg spread an incredibly painful ache throughout the bottom of his foot and his knee with every step he took.  It was referred pain from his lower back, his physio had explained to him, but Peter found that hard to believe; how could his back make it feel like he was trying to walk across a sea of legos? 

On his journey, Peter came across his old room and the one Loki had shared with Thor opposite it.  He stood and stared for several moments as he remembered the events that had gone on in there, and though it sent chills down his spine, he still moved to his old room and put his hand on the doorknob. 

Peter took a deep breath as he turned the handle and pushed the door.  It swung open with a loud creak, reminding him so much of those cliched camera shots in horror movies set in abandoned houses that tried their best to be ominous - but maybe this  _ was  _ a horror movie after all, because the fear Peter felt looking into that room almost had him turning and running back to Tony’s bed.

But Peter pressed onwards.  He poked his head inside and looked around, but with the blinds shut, it was too dark to make much out.  He didn’t switch the light on, though; he was scared that if he did so, he’d be confronted with all the blood he knew had been spilt that night.  

The bed was gone.  Peter felt tremendous relief at that, knowing Tony had cared so much, he couldn’t  _ stand  _ looking at it and being reminded of what had gone on behind his back.  Tony hadn’t replaced it, though, and with the blinds shut and the dust coating the furniture in the room, Peter had a feeling Tony had been doing his best to pretend that this room had never existed in the first place.

The boxes against the far wall caught Peter’s interest.  He moved forward and dipped his hand into the box closest to him.  A shuddery breath escaped him as he recognised the material of his old backpack, and he dug deeper until he was resurfacing with that old, handcrafted mask he had spent hours working on. 

“Oh…” Peter stared down at the mask for what could have been an eternity before he tossed his crutches to the side and dropped himself into a sitting position.  His eyes filled with tears for the first time since he’d been back with Tony, but he scrunched his face up in a grimace as his second hand shot out to take the other side of the mask so he could  _ pull _ .

The sound of fabric ripping echoed through the dusty air, but it stopped as soon as it started.  Peter let out a sob as he caressed the significant tear in deep regret. 

He could feel the emptiness inside of him twisting into something that frightened him; into anger and grief and the desperate desire to die.  But no matter how hard he tried, he couldn’t find hate in his heart for Thor. There was plenty of it there towards himself for everything that had happened, but the more he stewed on these new, bubbling emotions, the more he found the lack of hatred compensated by a resolve to keep going purely to spite Thor’s attempts at destroying him.

“You took everything from me…” Peter didn’t even know who he was talking to by this point; all he knew was that he was hugging his mask tight to his chest as his tears flowed freely now.  “You took everything… But you can’t… You can’t… You can’t take away  _ me _ …” 

Peter was crying harder now, and he was sure that if anyone came walking down the hallway, they’d hear him from a good distance away, but he didn’t care.  He dragged himself back to the boxes so he could reach in and feel around for something. When he felt his web blasters, he pulled them out and attached them to his wrists.  

“I won’t let you take away who I am…” Peter choked on his sobs as he shot a web to the wall.  He winced and cried out at the pain it caused at using the web to propel himself forward. “You can’t… take that away from me…” 

Peter braced himself as he aimed his hand up at the roof, this time trying to lift himself up.  He yelped loudly and quickly broke the connection, but his face was scrunched up in determination as he tried yet again.  

“I didn’t…” Peter wailed at the pain he was putting himself through in his attempt at forcing his body to get used to it, “...I didn’t… come so far… for you to take all that from me…” 

He bit back screams now as he was halfway to the roof, but he didn’t yield; he soon found himself upside down and realising that no matter what, he was always going to be Spider-Man at his very core, and all the anger that had slowly crept out towards Thor was drowned by Peter’s resolve to not lose himself to what Thor had done to him.

But, when footsteps approached the room and Natasha poked her head inside, he couldn’t help but scream out all his pain as she sat by his side and  _ listened  _ to his suffering.  He wanted so badly to be strong, but  _ could  _ he be stronger than his abuse?  He  _ wanted  _ to be, but Thor had messed his mind up horribly...  

Peter was hurting.  He was hurting  _ so damn badly _ , and he  _ swore  _ everything he had been numb to just hours ago had finally come out and swamped him upon finding his old mask.  He cried and screamed for what could have been the rest of the day, but finally,  _ finally  _ he could accept the tight hug Tony engulfed him in that didn’t end until Peter had cried himself to sleep in the man’s arms.  


	11. Chapter 11

For the first time in a month, Peter willingly ventured out of Tony’s bedroom on his own for the sake of it.  He walked slowly, still in need of his crutches to get him around, and unable to shake all the referred pain in his feet and knees that came from the damage his spinal injuries had left behind.    

But Peter didn’t want to let anything deter him today, not the fear or the pain; Tony had just left to attend to Stark Industries, and though someone was supposed to come and stay with Peter to keep him company as Tony always did, Peter had crept out of the room before they could arrive.  He wanted fresh air and to feel the sun on his skin; having been in Tony’s room hiding under the blankets after spending so long tied down to Thor’s bed unrelentingly was making him feel sicker than he already was, and he felt he was finally ready to leave the safety Tony’s room provided him.  

Peter moved slowly throughout the halls.  He passed the kitchen, but when he heard voices from within, he couldn’t help but poke his head inside warily; they were voices he didn’t recognise, and he had to make sure he wasn’t in any danger from people who weren’t supposed to be here.

Before Peter could see who was in there, he heard someone clear their throat behind him.  He jumped, his eyes wide and his body trembling from the fear that Thor had returned for him and he was going to be taken back to Asgard - who else could get behind him so unexpectedly? 

But instead, he came face-to-face with a frowning Loki who was watching him warily.  “I apologise; I did not wish to startle you.” 

Peter forced himself to get his breathing steadied before he shook his head and whispered, “I shouldn’t… be so jumpy all the time…  It’s stupid…” 

“Stupid that you are trying to recover from harm inflicted on you?” Loki shook his head.  “You are not stupid. You are healing. I also am finding myself on edge a lot…” 

Peter wiped at his eyes.  He changed the subject as he gestured to the kitchen and whispered, “I don’t know who is in there, Loki…” 

“It is that stupid raccoon and the tree,” Loki mumbled.  He blinked at the confused expression Peter donned. “Look for yourself.” 

Peter did so, and his eyes widened as he watched a  _ tree  _ hold open a sack while a raccoon mumbled to itself as it raided the fridges and tossed food into the sack.  He rubbed his eyes in disbelief before he looked back to Loki. “Have I been drugged…?” 

“No, you are seeing it correctly.” An amused smirk crossed Loki’s lips.  “Stark has brought in many unusual people to guard you. There is even a wizard, a king and a Midgardian who controls ants.  Stark has many more contacts than I would have believed.” 

Peter’s jaw dropped in awe.  “All these people… For  _ me _ ?!” 

Loki reached his hand out ever-so-slowly to touch Peter’s shoulder.  He waited until he felt Peter relax under his touch before he murmured, “You are very loved by your Midgardians, Peter.  I am truly jealous of you.” 

Peter shook his head.  He ghosted his fingertips against the back of Loki’s hand as he whispered, “They’ll learn to love you, too, Loki; they just need to get to know you first.” 

“They are wary of me.  Kind… Yet wary…” Loki changed the subject to one that was less painful to think about.  “My brother’s friends came with Heimdall and I. They have seen what Thor has become, and they wish to fight against him.  You have many people here keeping you safe, Peter.” 

Peter looked to his feet as he sighed.  He started walking, away from the kitchen and towards the front of the building so he could go outside and find somewhere he could sit and ponder for a while.  “I still… am so afraid… But M-mr. Stark… has helped me with so much…” 

Loki watched in silence as Peter stilled his feet once more so he could pull the collar of Tony’s nightshirt away and reveal the metal plating around his shoulder.  He reached his hand out to touch it in curiosity. “How does this heal your shoulder?”

“It doesn’t; it…” Peter swallowed thickly as he remembered what his physiotherapist had told him.  “...When Thor dislocated my shoulders, he… He damaged my rotator cuffs and my blood vessels… My physio said it’s not supposed to happen in people so young…  Rotator cuff tears, I mean… But it  _ hurts,  _ Loki…  It hurts so much…”

Loki nodded as he processed the words.  His eyes travelled further down to Peter’s shoulder blade, taking notice of the way the plating seemed to press into certain areas of Peter’s back.   “Then these platings are designed to manipulate muscle to give optimal movement with minimal pain.”

“Yes…  It still hurts in certain positions…  But it’s not as bad.” Peter offered a weak smile he was sure wasn’t as convincing as he hoped it was going to be.  

They talked quietly amongst themselves as they made their way outside, and finally, with the warmth all around him and the fresh breeze rustling his clothing, Peter closed his eyes and  _ basked _ .  They sat on one of the steps of the verandah, enjoying each other’s company, until Peter finally murmured, “Do the nightmares ever stop…?” 

Loki shook his head slowly.  “Not for me, they haven’t…” 

Peter dropped his head to rest against the railing so he could whisper, “It’s all I dream about…   _ That,  _ and Thor… coming back for me…  K-killing everyone…” 

Loki nodded in understanding.  “...” 

Peter wiped at his eyes with the back of his hand.  “...Mr. Stark… tells me I keep screaming in my sleep…  The psychologist...says it’s a normal reaction… But it’s been over a month, and she said if my nightmares don’t go away, it could develop into post-traumatic stress disorder…” 

“Thor…” Loki leant back on his elbows so he could look up at the sky as he pondered everything, “... _ wanted  _ to traumatise you…  I don’t understand why… but I’ve observed for a long time now, he isn’t happy in himself unless he can make other people hurt…  His friends that are here with us… They’ve only ever known the Thor you first met… And Thor… as much as I think he  _ does  _ enjoy their company and considers them his good friends… is  _ miserable  _ around them…”

Peter frowned.  He grabbed his pants and squeezed tight as his teeth worried his bottom lip.  “...”

“What I’m trying to say is…” Loki took a deep breath.  “...The problem will  _ never  _ lie with  _ you,  _ Peter…  My brother… is the one with the problems…  And  _ nothing  _ he did to you could ever reflect on  _ you  _ as a person…” 

Peter felt tears roll down his cheeks.  “...I’m trying… so hard… to be stronger than what Thor did…  But it isn’t easy…” 

“You are still a far better person than Thor,” Loki said softly.  “I think that counts for a lot.” 

Peter couldn’t help but smile weakly.  He dropped his head onto Loki’s shoulder and whispered his thanks.  

Time passed slowly between the two of them, but Peter didn’t mind; the longer they both sat out in the sun, the more he recognised that each of their pale, sickly dispositions looked just that little more healthy.  Hopefully, if Peter could get the courage to keep coming outside, his sallow, gauntly skin would radiate more and more with each venture until he’d be able to look at himself in a mirror and not be reminded of the torture he’d been put through.  

It was when Peter tried moving closer to Loki for comfort, did Loki tense and push the child away.  He shook his head, and though he bit down on his lip and clenched his hands at his side, there was no anger in his voice towards Peter.  “Please… Do not… Do not  _ sit  _ on me, Peter…” 

Peter understood.  He nodded. “I’m sorry…” 

“No, do not apologise…” Loki sighed.  “...I just… I cannot help but feel as if I am just as much a…  If I am just as bad as my brother is because of… what has been forced between us…” 

Peter’s fingers ghosted against Loki’s shoulder, and he couldn’t have looked any more devastated if he’d tried.  “You’re  _ not  _ a rapist, Loki!  You were… the only one out of us  _ both  _ who’d put up fights…  He had to  _ blindfold  _ you so you couldn’t see me…!” 

Loki squeezed his eyes shut tight as he grit his teeth.  “But still… I have taken from you so many times, and I will  _ never  _ be able to shift such a fact from my conscious…  It will haunt me for the rest of my centuries…” 

“Loki…” Peter reached out to take Loki’s hand.  He squeezed it tight and shifted closer so he could whisper, “I  _ forgive  _ you, Loki…  So, please… If  _ I  _ can forgive you…  Please forgive  _ yourself _ , too…” 

Loki cracked his eyelid open, but it was only when he heard the glass doors behind them opening.  He cloaked himself in illusion to hide away from the newcomer, and whether or not they’d seen him, they never mentioned it to Peter.

“Are you okay out here, kid?” 

Loki got up from the step and moved out of the way as the wizard approached to take his spot.  He listened to Peter’s soft murmur. “I was… talking with Loki… But he isn’t here anymore… What’s your name?”

“Doctor Strange.” The wizard sat next to Peter.  “But you can just call me Stephen.” 

Peter’s response was a little shy and timid, but there was still a childish excitement on his face as he whispered, “Is Doctor Strange your made-up name, or are you really a doctor?” 

“I am - or,  _ was _ .” Stephen shrugged.  “Not anymore, though. Are you okay?” 

Peter nodded.  He flinched when the red cloak that had been draped over Stephen’s shoulders moved on its own and seemed to reach up towards his face, but rather than fear it, he was awed at the way it seemed to be wiping away his tears.  “M-mr. Strange…?” 

“Doctor is fine, kid.  Really. And don’t mind him; he has a mind of his own.” As if to prove Stephen’s point, the cloak left his shoulders and wrapped around Peter like a security blanket.  “I call him Levi.” 

From inside his new makeshift shield, Peter’s fingers stroked the material of the cloak.  His smile became more and more sincere, and finally, his courage had come up to the surface so he could murmur, “I don’t know why Loki left when you came out, Mr - Doctor Strange…” 

“I believe he does it to everyone,” Stephen said softly.  “I have heard people talking about how he doesn’t seem to  _ want  _ to be found.” 

“He is hurt…  Like  _ I  _ am…” Peter defended.  “He doesn’t trust humans, and he thinks they don’t trust him back…” 

Stephen hummed.  His gaze seemed to pierce through Peter as he suggested, “I wonder if Tony ever considered that Loki attacking New York the way he did was Loki lashing out from his brother…” 

From where Loki stood a distance away, still cloaked in his illusions, he faltered slightly.  He’d never thought a human would be capable of such intelligent thinking, but here he was, being proven wrong.  He didn’t drop his guard, though; he still wasn’t ready to socialise outside of Peter and Heimdall. 

Peter frowned.  “Loki… has suffered so much…  I believe you when you say that’s a possibility…  Loki  _ isn’t  _ a monster, Mr. Strange!  I  _ promise _ !  He was… the only safety I  _ had  _ on Asgard…  If everyone would just give him a chance…!” 

“Hey, shh…” Stephen watched as Levi wrapped ever tighter to bring more comfort.  “I think after all this,  _ everyone  _ will give him chances if he ever decides to show himself to us.” 

Peter relaxed now.  He dropped his head onto Stephen’s shoulder, but he whimpered and shied away when he felt the man move to put his arm around his shoulders.  He shook his head. “Please don’t touch me… Only… Only Mr. Stark and Loki…” 

Stephen nodded.  “That’s fair. You know, it’s almost lunchtime…  If you and Loki feel up to eating with everyone, that is…” 

Peter tensed at the suggestion.  “...I’m not ready…” 

Stephen nodded again in acceptance.  He changed the subject and pointed out past one of the buildings.  “There is a spaceship parked around there. Tony thinks you would be very interested in it when you’re feeling better.”

“A spaceship…?” 

“How else would he have gotten to Asgard to take you back, Peter?” A soft smile graced Stephen’s face, and Peter couldn’t help but let his shoulders drop just a tiny bit at how welcoming the man looked now.  “I have no idea how Tony did it, but he did, Peter. You are worth a lot more than you think you are to him.” 

Peter’s eyes lit up now, and the tears that fell weren’t of sadness; they were of appreciation, and now the tension that had been haunting him for so long disappeared into the back of his mind as he stood up and announced loudly, “Loki, if you’re still here… I’m going to have lunch…  I… I hope I’ll see you there, too…” 

In the background, Loki watched as Stephen and Peter disappeared inside.  He sighed, and finally he dropped his illusion. He was anything  _ but  _ hungry, and rather than go inside, he walked out to the empty fields so he could be alone and practise his magic for a while.

* * *

 

Loki hadn’t joined Peter again for the rest of the day, but Peter found he didn’t mind  _ too  _ much; Tony had come home and introduced him to the group called the Guardians - what they were the guardians  _ of,  _ Peter hadn’t gotten the courage to ask - and surprisingly, though their leader came off as brash and standoffish, he and Peter had hit it off and spent an hour discussing all sorts of pop culture.  

They’d been in the living area together when Tony had found them that night, the self-proclaimed ‘Star-Lord’ (and honestly, it might have been easier calling him that as Tony had only gotten confused looks from them both when he’d called Peter’s name and they’d each turned to him expectantly) digging through the collection of DVDs to see what he’d missed out on during his long absence from earth.  

Tony took a seat next to Peter and watched Space-Peter (seriously, Tony was just going to start calling him by his last name because fuck this) bring up an armful of old movies and drop them on Earth-Peter’s lap.  

“So, these I remember my mother showing me.” For the first time since Tony had met the guy, Quill’s voice had taken on a soft tone.  “What do people think of these movies today?” 

Peter sorted through them, sharing his vast knowledge of pop culture while Quill listened with eager ears.  Quill nodded, until finally he requested to know what people thought were the best movies now. Tony’s eyes stayed on Peter’s face throughout it all, taking note of how slowly - yet surely - the nervousness and discomfort disappeared from the boy’s expressions until Peter had melted into comfortability and excitement as he talked about the Harry Potter and Lord of the Rings series.  

Tony didn’t feel like his presence was required any longer; Peter was doing just fine on his own, and though Quill was an idiot most of the time, he seemed like a harmless idiot.  Tony couldn’t bring himself to trust Quill completely, though; he’d trusted Thor _so fucking much,_ thought the same of Thor, and look at what had happened…

“Hey, kid, I’ll be in my room if you need anything.” Tony clapped Peter on the shoulder as he stood up and left, happy to hear that Peter’s excitement never seemed to falter at his exit.  

Tony walked past the kitchen on his way back to his room.  He stopped in to get a coffee first, but what he found truly surprised him; for the first time since they’d shown up on his doorstep, Loki had shown himself to someone other than Peter - and most surprising of all was that it was  _ Bruce _ he was standing next to, seemingly comfortable as he was taught how the microwave worked.  

“Hey, nice to see you not avoiding anyone, Reindeer Games.” Tony stepped in closer and made his way to the coffee machine.  Loki tensed, but he didn’t disappear. “Making friends with Bruce? I thought you’d be scared of him after the pounding Hulk gave you in New York.” 

Loki flinched.  His voice was tentative as he murmured, “I am afraid, yes…  But Banner… has been  _ kind  _ to me…  I do not wish to meet his green brute of a friend again, though…” 

Bruce ignored Tony as he grabbed the popcorn sachet from beside them so he could show the instructions to Loki.  His demeanour was so relaxed and gentle as he explained it all to their guest, and in the time it took Tony to make his coffee, Loki had his popcorn.

Tony had expected Loki to hide himself the instant Bruce had passed him his bowl of popcorn, but instead, Loki’s head bowed and he mumbled, “Thank you for your kindness towards me…  If Peter is looking for me, please tell him I will be in my room…” 

Tony nodded, and Bruce politely farewelled him.  When Loki was out of sight, Bruce said to Tony, “That guy isn’t so bad…  I didn’t realise the mastermind who tried to kill us all is also the politest guy I’ve ever met…” 

Tony shrugged.  “Yeah, he’s okay.  Probably only attacked us because of how messed up Thor made him, when I think about it.  Kind of makes me feel bad for the way I treated him at first…” 

Remorse crossed Bruce’s face.  “...Well, he was okay with me just before…  He asked me to show him how to make food because he was hungry…”

Tony’s coffee was ready.  He took a sip before he he responded.  “I’ll happily shift the blame off Loki just being a shithead and dropping it onto Thor instead.  Need help in the lab later?” 

“Yeah, if you’re not busy.” 

“Cool.  I’m gonna take a nap and then I’ll be there.” Tony finished his journey to his room, but on the way he couldn’t help but wonder; if Peter had been making new friends all day, and Loki had  _ finally  _ shown himself to someone…

Then did that mean they were slowly on their way to healing?  He hoped so. Even Loki deserved to heal after the shit that had been done to him.  


	12. Chapter 12

Loki didn’t know if Midgardians could predict the weather, but if they could, he hated how no one had bothered to mention that there was a storm rolling in.  Having spent so long with Thor had taught his skin to prickle at the build-up of static in the air, and it might have been tolerable had he had time beforehand to prepare himself emotionally for the reminder of his brother, but now, all he could do was sit back on the couch in the living area and try his damned hardest to block out the onslaught of memories.  

He should be warning Peter, he knew.  Telling him that there was a storm oncoming but it wasn’t Thor’s doing; Loki would have known if it was.  Instead, all he could do was stiffen on the couch, his eyes focused solely on Peter as the child listened to the one they called Scott (or Ant-Man, because apparently only few people remembered his name) talk about his daughter.  The King of Wakanda was with him - T’Challa, Loki  _ did  _ remember that one - was involved in the conversation as he interjected with his own stories of his sister growing up.  

It was the three of them on one couch, all of them oblivious to the storm brewing above.  Even Sam and Rhodey, from where they each sat either side of Loki as they watched the TV, seemed ignorant to the storm.  

Loki couldn’t, however.  His body tensed further, and as much as he wanted to call out to Peter and warn him, he couldn’t even seem to do that much.  

Then, the first clap of thunder sounded, and Peter’s happy expression morphed into horror.  The boy’s eyes were wide, seemingly as frozen as Loki was, before he pulled his knees to his chest and slapped his hands over his ears to try and block out the thunder.  His breathing picked up until he was hyperventilating, tears overflowing from his eyes as he looked all around in desperation to see where Thor was hiding. 

Loki wanted nothing more than to get up and comfort Peter, but he was still frozen, and all he could do was watch as everyone came to Peter’s side to try and snap him out of his panic attack.  

Loki’s eyes wandered now, over to the corner where Bucky Barnes was still hidden amongst the shadows and the only one aside from Loki who hadn’t taken off to attend to Peter.  Bucky was as damaged as they were, Loki had gathered from his time spent in the compound, and he seemed to go out of his way to avoid socialising with anyone who wasn’t Steve. 

But here and now… Bucky looked as worried as everyone else did.  

Loki was sure he’d heard how Peter was the only other person Bucky seemed okay being around, so if that was correct, Loki wasn’t surprised to see Bucky finally walk himself over to everyone and take gentle hold of Peter’s wrists to pull them away from his ears. 

Loki didn’t want to watch Peter’s panic attack any longer, and it was when the child started to scream did he finally find his body was no longer frozen.  He got up and left the room, not knowing what help he could possibly be when Peter already had so many people who doted on him.

Loki disappeared, avoiding everyone in his path as he made his way to Heimdall’s room.  He knocked on the door and stepped in, finding Heimdall in the middle of polishing his armor.  He closed his eyes and waited for instruction out of respect for the all-seeing. 

Heimdall was as gentle as always as he gestured around the room and murmured, “You may sit.” 

Loki took a seat on the end of Heimdall’s bed.  He exhaled a deep breath before he mumbled, “What have you seen of Thor lately…?” 

Heimdall reached out to pat the sword laying next to him fondly.  “Without Hofund, he seems to be at a loss as to how to open the Bifrost.” 

Loki nodded.  His body started to tremble with the stress of everything happening.  “Thor isn’t stupid… When he wants something badly enough, he’ll find ways to get it…” 

“He has exhausted most of his attempts,” Heimdall promised.  

“He won’t give up…  He’ll - Heimdall…?” Loki’s hair stood on end once more at the way Heimdall’s expressions twisted through so many in a handful of seconds.  He stood, and tentatively he crept closer. He licked his lips before he whispered, “What did you see…?” 

Heimdall looked on edge as he locked eyes with Loki.  He shook his head, and in a voice that didn’t convince Loki, he murmured, “It’s not of importance at this moment…” 

Loki didn’t like the sounds of that at all, but he wasn’t going to press; not now when he already felt so incredibly vulnerable.  He ducked his head and mumbled, “I am going to my room…” 

Heimdall nodded, but the conflict on his face hadn’t yet faltered.  He bid Loki farewell, but in the back of his mind, he knew he was going to have to seek council with the Midgardians over what he had just seen; if only to spare the remainder of Loki’s sanity, he could keep it to himself for now.  

* * *

 

Peter was warm beneath the thick blankets Steve had fetched for him to keep him comfortable during the storm.  He was spread out on the couch, laying across Steve’s lap and in the man’s arms as Bucky sat on his other side, the three of them watching the TV.  People came and went from the living room, but when they saw how serious Steve looked, they didn’t bother them and instead went on their way. 

The storm was still raging, and Steve hoped the power wasn’t going to go out because right now, it was the only thing that seemed to be working to distract Peter from his panic as the audio blasted through the powerful stereo system to block out the thunder.  

Peter shifted in Steve’s lap, and in his arms was his favourite childhood toy, a stuffed Iron Man plushie that Aunt May had bought him for his birthday when he was - Aunt May…  After all this time back on earth, he hadn’t once spared a thought to Aunt May… 

Peter had never felt so terrible until he was tilting his head back to look Steve in the eyes so he could whisper, “What’s happened with Aunt May…?” 

Part of Peter wanted to believe that if it were bad news, they’d have told him already.  But then, the logical part of him also understood that if something had happened to her, they’d want to wait until he was in a clearer headspace before he was informed.  

Steve shared a look with Bucky before he tightened his arms around Peter.  His throat tightened before he murmured, “Well… We weren’t sure if we should tell you, or wait until you asked…  But we… I’m really sorry, Peter… She… She passed away when you were on Asgard…” 

Steve hadn’t wanted to tell Peter - not like this, not when the boy was still suffering.  But Peter had the right to know he had lost the last of his family, and Steve… had kept  _ enough  _ secrets from his friends…  Secrets he  _ still  _ held onto; ones that he knew had the potential to tear the Avengers apart if he were to speak them to anyone… 

And seeing the way Peter sobbed his little heart out at the news, Steve felt as if he  _ had  _ spilt all those secrets, and it only resolved him further to hide them as best he could.  

“Is he -” Bucky shut his mouth the second he heard footsteps enter the room.  He frowned at the newcomer for a few moments before he looked back to Steve, still on edge around Steve’s friends as he shared in the knowledge he was a walking timebomb towards them all.  

“I am Groot?” 

Steve smiled at the tree standing before them.  He didn’t understand, not without the raccoon around to translate, but he could guess enough at the video game controller Groot was holding out towards them.  He accepted the gift. “Thank you, Groot. I’m sure Peter will appreciate it a lot.” 

“I am Groot.” The tree gave his own smile as he left the room.  

Steve looked to Bucky, and with the utmost sincerity he was capable of, he praised, “He is the nicest talking tree I have ever met.” 

“Do you meet many of them…?” Bucky was as lost in this new world as Steve was, perhaps more so as he’d been so alone for so long, but Steve didn’t mind; they could re-learn together.  

“No, but I’m sure that if I did, Groot would still be the nicest.” Steve put the game down next to him so he could use both hands to adjust Peter into a more comfortable position.  “Peter, I - Oh, Peter…”

Bucky leant over to see what had put the hurt expression on Steve’s face.  His frown grew when he saw the single cut across the boy’s wrist. He looked back to Steve.  “Steve…” 

Steve couldn’t comment on it; Peter was Tony’s responsibility, and he didn’t know if Peter trusted him the same way he trusted Tony.  Instead, he closed his eyes, pretended he hadn’t seen a thing, and held Peter close. “Hey, Buck? Remember how I showed you how to make hot chocolate?” 

“Yeah…” 

“Can you make some for all of us, please?” 

Bucky nodded, and quite honestly… he was glad to have an escape for a little while, because seeing such a young boy in so much pain made him ache in ways he’d never felt before.  


	13. Chapter 13

Peter hadn’t worn his suit since escaping Asgard.  He’d thought about it, but every time he imagined himself wearing the red material again, panic would set in and his body would ache with ghostly reminders of the damage Thor had inflicted.  No; it was best if he just stuck to his hoodies and the new clothing Tony was showering him in as gifts faster than he could wear it all.

Despite the anxiety Thor had instilled in Peter regarding his suit, one thing Thor hadn’t been able to keep him from was attaching his web blasters neatly to his wrists so he could go outside with whoever was around and willing to help him re-learn his role as Spider-Man - a much more crippled, physically disadvantaged Spider-Man, but Spider-Man nonetheless.  Tony didn’t know about it, because if he did, he’d have grilled everyone who dared sit around and watch and  _ encourage _ as Peter only put his body through more and more pain.  Peter liked it that way because, one rainy morning, he’d made haste on his crutches as fast as he could through the compound in his rush to find Tony and show him what he’d just accomplished on his own.

“Mr. Stark!” Peter donned the biggest grin he’d worn since his abduction, one that was reminiscent of his smiles before he’d ever met Thor.  For the first time in so long, there was only pure, untainted excitement on his face as he threw open the door to the meeting room. “Mr. Stark, I -!” 

“Kid, that’s great.  I’ll be out in a minute.” Tony didn’t even  _ look _ at Peter as he waved his hand flippantly at the boy, his tone just as cold as his attitude.

Peter’s joy faltered entirely, and now he was just standing uncomfortably in the doorway, looking at his feet as he didn’t want to see what a disappointment he’d suddenly become to everyone else, too.  “...Oh…” 

Tony glanced at the doorway from the corner of his eye, and when he saw Peter still standing there, a bit of bite entered his tone.  “Kid! We’ll talk about it  _ later _ !  The  _ adults _ are talking!” 

Someone murmured something in the background, words that Peter couldn’t quite catch but still heard his name mentioned.  He looked up again, hopeful that maybe someone had come to his defence, but instead, he could watch only as Vision glided towards him to shut the door in his face without so much as an acknowledgement.  

Peter flinched.  He didn’t know what he’d done to make everyone hate him.  Maybe they’d decided they liked Loki better than him after all because  _ Loki  _ had been sitting in there, staring at him with an expression so unreadable, Peter had never felt so alone before.  

It was stupid, the way Peter was tearing up at the treatment he’d just received.  Maybe the meeting  _ was  _ about him, and everyone had gotten so sick of his anxious, sad ways and were discussing the best plan to get rid of him.  Maybe they were going to replace him with Loki. Peter didn’t know. 

He stumbled out of the facility and instead made his way to the fields so he could try out the new adjustments he’d made to his web blasters.  His heart wasn’t in it this time, so even though he’d had a perfect success rate in taking out the dummies Quill and Drax had helped him plant out here a week ago for practise, he still felt rather empty and disappointed in himself; if he couldn’t even make Mr. Stark proud, than why should he be proud of himself?  He’d just have to try  _ harder _ to get Tony’s attention next time...  

Peter sighed.  He threw his crutches to the side and dropped himself into the wet grass so he could sit and let the rain drench him from head to toe.  Maybe it was what he deserved after all; being kicked outside like the stupid, pathetic,  _ disgusting  _ dog he was because he should have known better than to think anyone could ever love him and want him around after the things  _ Thor  _ had done to him.  

He pulled his knees to his chest and wrapped his arms around them.  If they all hated him, why couldn’t they have told him this sooner? Why did they have to lead him on and make him think they  _ cared  _ about him?  Maybe his psychologist had repeated what he’d told her; told them how Thor had taken great joy in putting Peter through the most humiliating sexual acts Peter could  _ never  _ had even  _ thought of,  _ let alone knew  _ existed _ .  

Just like how Peter felt disgust in himself for all that, the Avengers must have felt likewise and  _ finally  _ drawn the line after hearing how Peter was nothing but a disgusting,  _ disgusting  _ personal whore too scared to say no to anything Thor told him to do, no matter _ how  _ depraved the act was.  

“Kid!  Get down!” 

Peter’s head snapped up at Tony’s shout, and he frowned in confusion when he found everyone heading straight for him; a moment ago they’d all hated him, so why…?  “Mr. Stark…?” 

They were still a good distance away, but they’d all suited up as if they were headed into some great war.  When Peter’s hair stood on end and his senses went wild, he understood that was  _ exactly  _ what was happening as he turned to look behind him and found himself ducking  _ just  _ in time to miss the lightning-infused axe aimed towards his head. 

“ _ Kid _ !” 

Peter squeaked when he felt himself being scooped up by the metal plating that was Tony’s Iron Man suit.  He wrapped his arms around the neck of the suit and held on tight as he was brought back to the crowd that had gathered tightly together, ready for anything.  

“Kid,  _ stay here  _ and  _ don’t move _ ,” Tony ordered. 

Peter’s eyes looked straight ahead, and his mouth went dry at the sight of Thor approaching them.  

The god looked horrible.  He was in such terrible shape, Peter had never thought Thor would ever look so beaten and defeated.  Mjolnir was nowhere in sight, but in its place was that same axe that Peter had avoided. His hair had been cut off and one of his eyes was missing with a large scar running down past his eye socket, and amongst all the blood, bruising and gashes, he looked more irate than Peter had ever seen him.  

Part of Peter wanted to run and hide and let the others deal with this.  Another part of him wanted to run  _ to  _ Thor and make sure  _ he _ was okay.  But the most  _ logical  _ part of himself reminded Peter that this was  _ exactly  _ what he had worked so hard on since escaping Asgard; if Thor were to ever come back, he  _ had  _ to fight because he didn’t want Thor to keep the control he  _ had  _ over him for any longer.  Peter wanted to be free of the trauma, to escape Thor’s clutches for good and  _ show  _ his attacker that he could  _ still live _ , no matter  _ what  _ Thor had sought to do to his mind.

Peter shook his head stubbornly at Tony.  “No! Let me fight!” 

Tony turned to look at Peter.  Even with his face hidden behind the gold plate of the suit, Peter swore he could feel the man’s eyes sizing him up.  “Without your suit? No way, kid. Stay back and let the adults handle this.” 

Peter couldn’t stop the strangled shout from escaping his vocal cords.  “ _ I’m not a child _ !” 

Tony hesitated at this.  “...Fine, I won’t treat you as one.  But you aren’t an Avenger, and you don’t have your suit.  Stay out of this, kid.” 

“I can still fight!” Peter swore.  He was aware of the crowd dispersing as the sounds of battle reverberated throughout the field, and he only became more persistent at this; people had gotten hurt before because of him, and he’d never be able to live with himself if anyone died here and now trying to protect him.  

“Kid, if something happened to you, I’d…!” Tony grit his teeth.  “No. Stay here!” 

Peter watched Tony fly off to join the battle.  He understood now; their meeting earlier  _ had  _ been about him, but because they’d known Thor was coming.  They’d only wanted to protect him; to not tell him and hope they could deal with it in secrecy so he didn’t have to suffer any more than he already had.  But they’d failed at that, and now they were doing the next-best thing they could to try and save him. 

Peter wasn’t going to listen to Tony’s orders.  He ran in to join everyone, slinging webs where he could to slow Thor down and stop his attacks, but as he’d predicted long ago, Thor was too strong, and there was only so much webbing him up could do. 

Peter yelped when he felt something grab his feet and knock him over as he was pulled out of the way of a lightning attack.  He looked to Wanda, and their eyes met as they each nodded. Peter hated to think what could have happened had she not been paying attention and pulled him out of the way.  

“Goddamnit, kid, get out of here!” Tony yelled as he and Rhodey circled above Thor. 

Peter ignored Tony once again, but whatever he’d had in mind quickly vanished when he was slammed into by Hulk, who’d been sent flying with one punch to his jaw from Thor.  Peter almost screamed at the pain it caused, his injuries re-opened and hurting worse than ever, but he couldn’t focus on that; he could see how Thor had managed to pin Tony to the ground, and if Peter didn’t do something to help, Tony could die.

The pain in Peter’s body was only a distant thought in the back of his head as he hobbled forward on damaged legs and threw his weight into Thor’s back.  He barely shifted the god, but it was enough of a distraction for Tony to disentangle himself from Thor’s hold. 

Peter whimpered when he felt Thor grab him by the neck now, and though he braced himself for whatever Thor had planned, the entire battlefield seemed to freeze as everyone looked up at the sky at the spaceship that had begun descending from the sky to land across from them in the field.  

Thor dropped Peter to the ground so he could step forward and meet the lifeforms exiting the donut-shaped spaceship.  Peter felt Tony grab him and hold him close, and together, they watched in silence as Thor greeted the newcomers.

“Thanos…” Thor’s voice was gruff, but Peter didn’t think he’d tired himself out in the fight; despite the wounds he’d arrived with, he’d barely received a scratch from the Avengers and hadn’t slowed down once as he’d performed effortlessly against them all on his own.  

The only thing Peter could describe the newcomer as was an armour-wearing purple teletubby.  Behind him was the best real-life Squidward he’d ever seen, but the others… Peter couldn’t help but shudder at their intimidating looks.  

“Are they on Thor’s side…?” Peter whispered to Tony.  He couldn’t stop his voice from shaking now; today sure was turning out to be one stressful day… 

“Dunno…” Tony whispered back.  He picked Peter up and flew them to join the other Avengers, putting distance between Thor and his potential comrades.  

The Avengers watched in silence, too far back to hear what exactly was being said, but they quickly assumed that Thor  _ wasn’t  _ on good terms with the newcomers after all as he soon hurled his new axe at the teletubby named Thanos before he was overpowered effortlessly.  It wasn’t just Thanos who mauled him; Thanos’ bodyguards joined in until Thor looked as if he’d been savaged by a pride of lions. Thor barely moved as they dragged him closer and closer to the Avengers, but Peter knew he was still alive.  Peter knew how cruel it was, but he couldn’t help but hope that maybe… Just maybe… 

Thor understood right now how  _ Peter  _ had felt for so long at his mercy...

“Loki.” Thanos stopped not far from them now, with Thor’s head in his oversized hand as he squeezed it tight.  “Loki, the Tesseract if you will.” 

“He doesn’t have it…!” Thor gasped out as his face scrunched up in pain.  “It was destroyed on Asgard!” 

From amongst the group, Loki closed his eyes.  He knew for a fact Thor would have sought out the Tesseract on his own as a tool to get back to Midgard, only to find it missing.  After everything that had happened… 

Thor was trying to  _ protect  _ him, and it didn’t make any  _ sense _ ! 

Thanos’ eyes remained fixed on his once-subordinate.  “The Tesseract, or your brother’s head.” 

Peter looked up at Tony with wide eyes.  He winced at the screams that escaped Thor’s throat once Loki’s lips had moved with words Peter hadn’t caught, but relief flooded him when he heard Loki yelling for Thanos to stop.  He didn’t understand the shining blue rectangle Loki had produced out of thin air, but Peter’s senses were going haywire right now, and all he could do was look away, not wanting to see what happened with the rectangle.

“Loki,  _ don’t _ !” 

It was Thor’s frightened cry that had Peter’s eyes snapping open once again as he looked at the scene and found Loki standing before Thanos, his dagger stopped at the titan’s throat as Thanos sneered down at him.  Peter knew what would happen if nobody did anything - and, to his horror, nobody  _ did  _ do anything.

“Loki!” Peter pulled himself free of Tony’s hold and body-slammed Loki away from Thanos, just in time to avoid the giant hand reaching out for the trickster.  He allowed himself to fall  _ hard  _ on his back, yelping as he felt the plate around his shoulder breaking and giving way to the ruined muscle that fatigued him just  _ trying  _ to move it.  Despite the situation, he still webbed Thanos’ face, thankful that in doing so, he’d let go of Thor’s head, too. 

Thor quickly got to his feet, but it wasn’t without weakness; for the first time since his arrival, he showed signs of exhaustion and pain.  Peter briefly wondered if Thor had come here for retribution and, if he had, if it were even against  _ Peter  _ in the first place.  Their eyes locked briefly before the god turned his attention back to Thanos and swung his axe.  

Thanos blocked the attack, but it left him open for the Hulk charging at him.  From there, all hell broke loose as a  _ literal army  _ bled from the spaceship and joined the fray.  

Thanos had broken away from the Avengers’ group; four-on-one with Tony, Loki, Peter and Thor trying their damned hardest to stop him.  Strange and Quill had been with them, but had fallen behind to take care of the minions that followed. 

The problem was, even with the combined strength of two literal gods, Thanos wasn’t going down easily, and most of Tony’s armour was breaking before it could even repair again.  Peter was being an absolute trooper, though; without his own armour and at the biggest disadvantage, he damned well gave it everything he had.

The only problem was, giving it everything he had meant he acted out being a human shield.  Thor had gone down, keeled over on the ground after Thanos had snapped off the blade from the Iron Man suit and cut down both Tony and Thor.  Loki was still up, joined now by Strange and Quill who had fended off the oncoming reinforcements. When Thanos raised the sword to Thor once more during their approach, Peter jumped in front of him and took the full brunt of the titan’s strength.  

Peter screamed when he felt the blade pierce through his stomach and exit out of his back, but despite the pain, he still had conscious enough to web Thanos’ feet and keep him in place for the attack coming from behind him. 

“Kid!” From where Tony could only kneel on the ground as he bled out into his suit, he watched in horror as Peter was thrown to the side carelessly, as if he were rubbish being discarded over someone’s shoulder.  

Thor’s eyes were wide as he looked to where Peter had fallen.  He could hear the child’s sobbing as he laid in place, blood pooling around him as he most likely succumbed to grievous injuries.  

Thor’s shock turned to furiousness.  He leant forward and grabbed the handle of his axe from where it lay next to him, but he couldn’t lift it.  Oh well; no time to ponder on that; lightning sparked off his body as thunder roared in the sky above. 

Peter could hear the commotion behind him, but it was agonising to move.  He forced himself to roll over to see what had happened, and the first thing he noticed was the axe laying discarded not far from him.  He looked at Thanos now, seeing him distracted by all the attacks sent his way as his friends continued getting up every time they’d been knocked down.  If they could do that much with how badly hurt  _ they  _ were…

Then  _ Peter  _ could be brave and not give up, too.

Peter bared his teeth and furrowed his eyebrows as he reached out and dragged himself along the ground, inch-by-inch closer to the axe.  He sobbed loudly when someone knocked it further out of his reach in their tussle when he’d been so  _ close,  _ his fingertips had brushed the handle.

“You would all have done well to have cooperated.  It would have been easier on you.” 

Peter flinched at Thanos’ words.  He looked over his shoulder again to see what was happening as he crawled after the axe again, and to his horror, everyone seemed to have fallen for good this time as Thanos stood, holding Thor in the air by his throat with his gauntlet fisted and ready to give the final blow.

“Yes…!” Peter’s fingers finally closed around the handle of the axe, and without even a  _ second’s  _ thought as to why he could even  _ lift  _ it, he used it in place of his crutches and pushed himself to his feet.  

Peter staggered forward as blood flowed from him rapidly.  Each slow step he took almost had him crashing back to the ground as his vision blackened more and more.  And then, finally, just when his spotty visioned turned almost completely black, Peter swung the axe, and he swore the battlefield fell silent at that moment. 

“Kid…” 

Peter made out Tony’s worried voice through the blackness that was engulfing him.  He heard the Iron Man suit coming towards him despite the violent ringing in his ears as he tried not to succumb to the lightheadedness.  He felt himself fall into the metal platings of Iron Man’s arms. His vision cleared slightly for a few moments now that he was being shifted so Tony could hold his legs up in the air and try to get blood back to his head, and he didn’t miss how Thor was staring at him, his expression unreadable as he tried to tug his axe out of Thanos now sprawled on the ground, but to no avail.  Their eyes stayed locked on each other for what felt like an eternity until Thor turned around, without a word, and stumbled away from the battlefield. 

Peter’s eyes closed at that, and he slipped into unconsciousness.  

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm not usually very good at writing action scenes, and this is certainly by far the longest one I've ever written. I did consider holding it back for another day for more editing to make it as best I could, but since you guys got an extra six-hundred words this morning just from editing, and I'm happy with the flow, I hope you guys enjoyed this as much as I did as I played it all out inside my head. It translated very closely to what I pictured, which is another thing I am pretty happy with ^_^


	14. Chapter 14

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry for leaving this on a cliffhanger for so long! I'm back at university so updates may take a couple more days to come out than usual. But I'm still going to try and stick to my update schedule as best I can!

When Peter’s brain switched on again, he was conscious of chatter happening near him.  His mind was too foggy to think to listen in, but still snippets of conversation passed through his mind.

“...hasn’t been out to see…”

“...won’t come around…  ...blaming himself for…”

In the back of his mind, Peter was sure he knew those voices, but he couldn’t even think to open his eyes.  It didn’t seem to matter much, though; when he became aware that there was a tube down his throat, he raised his shaking hand to try and find where it had entered so he could tug it out.  

“Peter, no!” 

Peter winced at the voice from his side.  He was too confused to completely understand what had been said, so his hand never faltered as he searched for the other end of the tube.  He whimpered when he felt someone grab his hand and force it back by his side, and his eyes locked on to Bruce’s briefly before his world went black once more.  

The next time he awoke - however long that was, he had no idea - the tube was still in his throat, and he was conscious enough to realise he was hooked up to more than just a ventilator.  He tried to speak, to ask what had happened to him and if everyone was okay, but no sound came out. 

Across from the bed, the door opened, and Bruce poked his head in.  He looked relieved when he saw that Peter seemed to be properly awake this time, and he couldn’t keep the smile from his face.

“I wondered when you would wake,” Bruce said softly.  He stepped inside and closed the door gingerly behind him.  Peter wasn’t oblivious to the limp Bruce walked with, and somewhere in the back of his mind, he was sure he would blame himself for this soon enough.  “Stephen and I have been so busy looking after everyone - haven’t had time to sit with anyone properly… You know?” 

Peter shook his head.  How  _ could  _ he know when he’d been passed out for all this time?  His lips twisted into a growl, but still, no sound escaped past them.  

Bruce sat on the bed next to Peter.  He reached out and put the palm of his hand over the back of Peter’s own so he could murmur, “It’s best you not move around too much…  No trying to get out of bed, or anything like that… We’ve had to keep you on life support; if Tony didn’t…”

Peter watched the way Bruce frowned and ducked his head for a few moments before he raised it again and looked the boy in the eyes. 

Bruce shook his head.  “You bled out; you died six times…  Tony used his tech to seal the wounds, but it was a wrong move; your aorta was punctured and all the blood got trapped and was pressing on it…  If Stephen wasn’t here, we wouldn’t be talking right now…” 

If Peter was capable, he would have snorted.  He didn’t know what was wrong with him; he was just so annoyed, and Bruce wasn’t helping.  He’d have loved to have said how he’d have  _ wanted  _ to be left alone to die, but he was bound to silence for now, so all he could do was glare weakly at Bruce and hope he got his message across.

“Umm…” Bruce’s hands fumbled together as he chewed at his lip, seemingly trying to sort through his thoughts.  “A-another thing… We, umm… Well… T-tony… Probably won’t come to visit you for a while yet… Loki, too… So I hope you don’t mind being stuck with us for a while…”

Peter closed his eyes.  He remembered what had happened in that fight.  His skin prickled as he remembered the blood pouring out of his stomach and back that had drenched his clothes faster than if he’d waded out into a pool.  His mouth went dry as he remembered the crimson trail he’d left behind in the grass. The pain and the fear at the recollections were only too familiar to him. 

But there was more pressing matters on his mind than Tony or Loki right now, and Peter wanted to know why the  _ hell  _ he’d  _ ever  _ put himself between Thor the way he had.  Just because he didn’t  _ hate  _ Thor didn’t mean he still  _ cared  _ about him because as far as Peter was concerned, he could get through the rest of his life without ever sparing another thought to his attacker and  _ especially  _ said attacker’s wellbeing.  

He supposed it was simple, though; Peter never had been good at seeing other people get hurt, and especially not because of  _ him _ …  

He grit his teeth in anger; Thor didn’t fucking  _ deserve  _ Peter’s big heart!  ...But seeing someone die in front of him like that…  

Peter just couldn’t do it, no matter  _ who  _ it was… 

“Thanos is incapacitated for the time being.”

Peter jumped at Bruce’s voice; he’d completely forgotten he wasn’t alone.  His glare hardened, despite knowing it was stupid to take his shit out on Bruce who just didn’t deserve the treatment.  “...” 

“Tony dealt with all that.” Bruce went back to fumbling his hands before he mumbled, “You really  _ don’t  _ like seeing people hurt, do you?  You could have gone for the killing blow so easily…  But you didn’t.” 

What was Peter  _ supposed  _ to have done?  He wasn’t a killer; he didn’t have it in him to try.  If he did, Thor would probably have been his first victim.  Not only that, had he been expected to swing a damn  _ axe  _ \- no matter how deceivingly light it had been in his hands - into Thanos’ head while he was bleeding out and  _ dying _ ?  If it hadn’t been for that spider bite, he’d have bled to death before he could even drag himself to that bloody axe.   

As if Bruce had read his mind, he fidgeted before he confided in his patient.  “Thor… went off on his own… Heimdall went after him; when he came back, he said Thor has some pretty grievous injuries - especially from where he got his throat squeezed.” 

Good; maybe now Thor could understand how  _ Loki  _ and  _ Peter  _ felt with the way Thor always choked them, maybe had a damned  _ idea  _ on how difficult and painful Loki found  _ breathing  _ at times…  

Peter couldn’t feel sympathy for Thor.  He just couldn’t. Knowing the god wasn’t dead was good enough for him, but how  _ dare  _ Thor leave his victims with such shattered lives without ever suffering retribution for his actions.  

No.  Peter wasn’t so cruel to wish death upon anyone, and he couldn’t leave them to suffer.  But he refused to be the only one to take the brunt of someone’s actions and live with it for the rest of his life while his attacker could still sleep peacefully at night without even  _ thinking  _ about the things he’d done. 

It was what Bruce said next that had Peter’s mind reeling.  “Loki tried killing himself. We think what happened out there was his breaking point.” 

Peter wasn’t numb.  He still felt. But perhaps he was feeling  _ too  _ much because he had to block out his emotions and pretend it didn’t hurt so much to hear those words.  

But what of Tony? Could Tony even  _ stand  _ to look at him anymore?  He probably couldn’t, and it was why Tony hadn’t been to see him.  Peter had probably gotten people killed - and all because he’d acted like a child and thrown a tantrum.  He wasn’t surprised now that Tony didn’t want anything to do with him anymore.

Once more, he had to lock his emotions away and try to fool himself into believing he was a heartless monster.  He’d feel again when he was ready. 

He wanted to be left alone, though.  He needed to come to terms with everything on his own, to deal through everything that had happened by himself.  He imagined it was what he should have done in the first place instead of acting like a little baby and insisting on being treated like one.  

Peter  _ wasn’t  _ a baby.  He’d jumped into that fight head-on at such a big disadvantage, and he’d been the one to  _ end  _ it.  He’d survived Thor’s cruelty, felt that he’d done well at ignoring his pain, pushing it to the back of his mind so often because if he could fool everyone else into thinking he was happy and  _ okay,  _ then maybe  _ he _ could believe it as well.  

But Peter… hadn’t handled  _ anything  _ properly; he’d continued to run until he’d been backed into a corner, and foolishly he’d thrown himself into something he should have known he wasn’t ready for. 

Peter needed rest.  He needed  _ time _ .  He needed… to  _ face  _ things.  Hell, he hadn’t even allowed himself to grieve Aunt May properly because every time he’d tried, he’d see Thor’s sneering face in his mind, hear his echoing taunts as the ghosts of torment past played through his mind and made sure to remind him how pathetic he was that he could  _ cry _ .  

Thor hadn’t liked Peter crying.  He made sure Peter knew that, affirmed Peter would never  _ forget  _ it, either.  And maybe Peter never would.  His emotions and his mental state had been so terribly damaged, maybe there were some things Thor had instilled in him that Peter would never be able to escape, no matter how hard he tried.  

But Peter needed to  _ heal _ .  He’d thrown himself at Thor, showed the god Peter wouldn’t let him control him.  He hadn’t thought it out well; he should have known all he had really tried to do was fool himself into believing he actually had  _ power  _ over the things Thor had done to him when in reality, Thor owned him  _ now  _ just as much as he had back in  _ Asgard _ . 

A single tear rolled down Peter’s cheek.  He didn’t care if Bruce saw it anymore. He didn’t care if Bruce  _ commented  _ on it.  Peter was exhausted, and after all this time, what he really needed was a good, long cry and some sleep. 

To Peter’s relief, Bruce said nothing as he left to give Peter privacy, and when his tears finally dried up, he felt all the better for it. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I was given some really good feedback on the last chapter, and they raised some very valid points which I'd been holding off to explore in the coming chapters rather than dump an expository in every chapter. But they did mention how at times Peter can seem all over the place. The stuff in this chapter is all stuff I'd had planned out from the early chapters, but I really would like to hear thoughts and opinions if this chapter seems to only increase Peter's inconsistency or balances things out. I appreciate all constructive criticism so please don't hesitate to drop any; it can only help make these chapters better :)


	15. Chapter 15

It hadn’t been until Peter had been left alone did he realise just how badly he’d needed time by himself so he could work through his emotions properly.  He appreciated that everyone worried about him, but being able to lay in bed without anyone around to make him feel as if he were something fragile gave him the clearest mindset he’d had in a long time.  With people around, he felt obligated to fulfill whatever expectations they had for him, but here…

He could just stay in bed and sleep and not worry about having to get up and eat and pretend he  _ wasn’t  _ so depressed to ease everybody else’s worries.  

Tony hadn’t come to see Peter once during his two-month bed rest period.  

“He blames himself,” Bruce had once mentioned to Peter when the boy had asked about Tony not long after his trach tube had been removed from his throat.  “He thinks it’s his fault you took off on us because he snapped at you in his stress.”

Peter couldn’t blame Tony for needing space; he’d probably do the same thing if someone he loved had died in his arms.  Out of respect, he’d avoided Tony until the man was ready to see him again, but everyone else got the same treatment as well; until Peter was ready, he needed to be alone.

He’d left his bed as soon as Bruce had told him he was well enough to do so, tired of staring at the same four walls that reminded him how trapped he had felt in Thor’s presence.  He’d crept throughout the compound, trying his hardest to steer clear of coming into contact with anyone, but of course he should have known no matter how hard he tried, there was just too many people around to accomplish his goal.

“Hey, kid.  What are you up to?” 

It was Quill.  Peter felt his shoulders relax; out of everyone here, Quill didn’t tend to baby him and instead treated him like perhaps a little brother.  Peter sucked in a deep breath. “I was just… I’m…” 

Quill didn’t mind not getting a straight answer out of the kid.  He gave a shrug as he casually replied, “Mind if I join you?”

Peter wasn’t so sure if he did care or not, but still, he shook his head and mumbled, “You can…”

“Sweet.” Quill came closer, exiting the kitchen he’d been standing in.  “Where were you heading? I haven’t seen you around for a while now.” 

Peter’s gait was slow as he still couldn’t get his legs to work adequately.  “I was… going out to look for something…” 

Quill didn’t understand, but he didn’t press.  He followed Peter through the compound and to the front entrance, but they stopped once Peter had opened the doors.

Loki and Stephen were sitting outside, on the same steps Peter recalled sitting on with Loki so long ago.  Peter frowned; sticking out from under the sleeve of Loki’s green robe was a large scar, traced perfectly along his veins and leaving no doubt in Peter’s mind what had happened there.

They were talking, Peter could hear.  He knew it wasn’t his business to know what they were saying, but he couldn’t help but stand in the doorway, one hand holding open the door as he listened closely.

“I still can’t work out why he tried to defend me by telling him I didn’t have the Tesseract…” Loki sounded so empty, so  _ exhausted,  _ Peter couldn’t help but wince.  “One moment he was trying to kill us himself…  Then the next…” 

Stephen’s back was to Peter, and if he knew the boy was there or not, Peter didn’t know.  Still, the man responded. “Perhaps he wouldn’t have been able to live with himself if he didn’t protect you…  I know how stupid it sounds after everything he’s done, but… In his own…  _ messed up  _ way…  He probably  _ does  _ love you, Loki.” 

Loki snorted.  “Yeah. He loved making me  _ suffer _ .” 

Stephen shook his head.  “I don’t know Thor… But I saw a lot of it in my profession.  Your brother’s sick. I have no doubt he  _ did  _ have genuine satisfaction in causing misery in you and Peter.  But the professionals think sociopaths  _ can  _ form emotional attachments, Loki.  It’s just… hard to know how far gone Thor is…  And if anything could have saved him from getting this bad, it’s probably too late to help him now, Loki.”

Loki shrugged carelessly.  “I don’t care… Let him wander off…  I hope he gets himself killed!” 

Stephen turned his head from where he’d been looking at the sky so he could fix a serious gaze on Loki.  “You don’t mean that, do you, Loki?” 

There was silence between them, one that told Peter Stephen had the same suspicion he did that Loki didn’t hate Thor as much as he liked to say.  Peter suspected what Loki truly hated was the treatment he’d received for so long - the way his big brother had changed into an unrecognisable monster over time.  Deep down, Loki still had love for Thor; it was just buried so deeply beneath the anger, the resentment, and the  _ hurt _ , he couldn’t recognise it on his own.

Peter had to give credit to Loki; the fact that Loki could still hold on to whatever memories and  _ love  _ he once had for Thor during better times was more than Peter himself felt he was capable of.  He’d never really known Thor; just the stories Tony liked to tell him like bedtime rituals between mother and child.  Then again, he supposed  _ no one  _ had really ever known Thor apart from Loki.

Peter had just been about to step past them and continue on his journey, but he stopped when he saw Loki inch closer to Stephen now that said wizard had sat.  Peter saw the hesitation in Loki, but finally, the god dropped his head onto Stephen’s shoulder and closed the distance between their bodies. 

Peter couldn’t swallow past the lump in his throat at seeing  this. Surely this act of seeking comfort was how _ he’d  _ so often looked, and he couldn’t help but feel uncomfortable.  He closed his eyes and took the plunge, pushing past Loki without a word so he could limp out into the fields they’d fought in.  Quill followed behind, his curiosity mounting more and more as they treaded across war-torn fields. 

Peter didn’t stop wandering until he’d found what he’d been looking for; abandoned and weather-beaten was that axe Thor had come at them with.  He knelt down and brushed his fingertips against the cool metal handle that looked similar to Mjolnir’s, yet so different. 

“Why would he leave this behind…?” Peter bit at his lip as he curled his trembling fingers around the hilt and lifted.  The axe came up easily, as light as a feather and ever-so-respondent to the slightest movements he made. 

Quill shrugged.  “You’re asking the wrong person.  His friends that were here took off after him, and none of them came back except for the guy with the golden eyes.  He’s gone into hiding, apparently. Guess he doesn’t care about that axe very much and only had it to try and kill us.”

It didn’t make sense, though, Peter knew.  Thor had never parted from Mjolnir, so to have abandoned everything like this…  

Peter couldn’t help but let out a bitter laugh.  He didn’t care that Thor had left the axe behind; it was one less thing to be attacked with and used to keep him pinned helplessly beneath every assault he’d endured.  

Peter dropped himself onto his haunches so he could examine the axe more.  Quill had almost sat with him, but he got back to his feet when something in his pocket started beeping.  

“Hey, sorry, I gotta head back,” Quill apologised as he dropped his hand into his pocket to silence the beeping.  “Rocket’s sending out a transmission. You okay out here by yourself?”

Peter nodded, and it was the only response Quill got from him.

Peter’s eyes never left that axe, not even as the sky turned grey and rain fell down on him.  He tried telling himself he  _ was  _ strong; no matter how badly he  _ ached  _ for death in the back of his mind like a persistent tummy ache that would never go away for good.  He’d faced Thor; he’d  _ fought  _ for himself.  

...But some days were easier than others to keep that mindset up, and today didn’t feel like such a good day.  

Nevertheless, Peter  _ was  _ tired, but he was  _ strong _ .  He’d been fighting a war inside his head for so long, and after everything that had happened, he couldn’t throw in the towel now.  He’d shown himself the kind of strength he was capable of if he just…  _ tried _ , so why was it so hard to believe in himself some days?  

There were days he felt he could conquer anything Thor threw at him.  ...But then came the days of crippling depression where he just wanted to stay in bed all day and sleep and never have to deal with anything ever again.  

But Peter… couldn’t let Thor win.  Peter had faced so much and come out of it on top; Thor didn’t  _ deserve  _ to win this fight.  

Peter grit his teeth and got back to his feet.  A sneer crossed his face as he grabbed the axe and slung it over his shoulder so he could carry it back to the compound.  When he got there, Stephen and Loki were still sitting on the steps, despite the rain, and they watched him questioningly as he pushed past them with his head bowed to pretend he didn’t see them there.

“Peter?” Stephen’s call was soft.

Peter froze in place, but still he didn’t look at them.  His mumbled reply was almost incoherent. “I-I j-just gotta…  Got stuff - can’t - no, I… I’ll… Don’t want it…” 

Stephen’s eyebrow cocked.  He shared a look with Loki, who stood up to put his hand on Peter’s shoulder.  Their eyes met, and Loki whispered, “That axe will bring you nothing but misery, Peter…  Toss it out. It doesn’t belong to my brother anymore…”

Peter nodded.  He resumed walking at that,  faintly hearing somewhere behind him the other two finally coming inside as well.  

Peter carried the axe through the compound, all the way to the room that had once been Thor’s.  He pushed open the door and peered inside, finding it in much the same condition as his old room was as well; forgotten about and ignored.

He stepped into the room and looked around.  The bed in this room was gone as well, but there weren’t even any boxes hanging around.  Thor had either taken everything back to Asgard, or Tony had thrown out every reminder of Thor he’d come across. 

Peter didn’t care, though.  Not when he had the axe in his hands and all the anger was bubbling in the pit of his stomach.  He felt the first tear drip down his cheek, and that was it; he raised the axe into the air and swung it down hard into the floorboards as an anguished scream ripped from his throat.  

For the first time since returning home, Peter felt the rage build until he was left in a frenzy, the axe connecting and  _ destroying  _ everything Peter could find.  Nothing was sacred; it all reminded him of Thor and what had happened, and Peter needed to destroy it all. 

The screaming and the commotion naturally had people rushing to the room.  For the first time in so long, Tony tried to approach, but Stephen stopped him.  

“Let him get it out, Tony,” Stephen instructed with a shake of his head.  “It’s a good sign; he’d have so much bottled inside him.” 

Tony frowned deeply, but still he nodded.  He looked back at the crowd, and picking the closest people to him, he pointed at Quill and Rhodey and said, “Keep an eye on him…  Make sure he doesn’t hurt himself…” 

Quill and Rhodey did just that, eventually following Peter into his old room once he’d finished tearing the other one apart.  Peter did the exact same to this room, but when he finished his rampage, he threw the axe against the wall as hard as he could in an attempt to destroy it.

From the doorway, Quill winced as he watched Peter stomp on the axe again and again as if he were trying to crumple a soda can.  He looked to Rhodey and whispered, “I know how he feels, man… Imagine how much anger he’s been holding back to be doing this…” 

Rhodey nodded.  His heart broke as Peter picked the axe up again and turned the head to its side so he could pound it against the floorboards with all his strength.  “The poor kid… Why hasn’t he  _ told  _ anyone about all this anger?” 

“It’s all about appearances, dude; if he can fool others, he can fool himself.” Quill sighed, and there was deep remorse in his voice as he continued.  “Except… Taking that path always hurts the most in the end…” 

The head of the axe broke off now, and Peter seemed satisfied with this as he dropped to his knees and panted heavily.  He turned to look at Quill and Rhodey, and through his breathlessness, he murmured, “I’m really tired now…” 

Quill was the one to come forward and help Peter to his feet.  He kept his arm wrapped around the boy’s shoulders to hold him steady amidst his stumbles.  “That’s good; you got it all out, then. Don’t go holding shit inside anymore; it never works and only makes things worse.” 

Peter sighed.  “I know… I learnt my lesson…” 

“Talk to someone.   _ Anyone _ .” Quill joined Rhodey again now.  “But just… Just stop  _ pushing  _ yourself.  You’ll do more harm than good.  Stay in bed and sleep all day if you feel like it.  You’re going to crash and burn trying to pretend nothing’s wrong.” 

Peter wiped at his itching eyes.  He hadn’t noticed they were dry; he must have stopped crying ages ago.  “I haven’t wanted to do much for ages… I just… I  _ do  _ want to stay in bed…  But Mr. Stark, and everyone else…  I feel like they expect me to be strong…” 

Rhodey put his hand on Peter’s shoulder and gave his brightest smile.  “Peter, the only thing we expect from you is to let us  _ help  _ you.  Of  _ course  _ it’s going to hurt us to know you’ve stopped eating, or you aren’t brushing your teeth…  But if that’s what you need to do, you go and do it, Peter.” 

Peter nodded.  “I think I want to go back to sleep…” 

Quill turned Peter around so they could go to the room Peter had been sharing with Steve.  “Go get some sleep. After that outburst, you’ll need it.” 

Peter hummed.  “I thought I was doing okay…  But seeing Thor again… It kind of brought everything back to the surface…  I thought I was being strong, but… I guess I wasn’t ready to see him again…”

“It happens,” Quill promised softly.  “Doesn’t make you weak, man. Just means there’s still a lot of shit inside.  Gotta get it out somehow, dude; as long as you’re feeling okay right now.”

Peter nodded.  His expression was exhausted as he whispered, “I  _ do  _ feel a bit better…  Just really tired...” 

It wasn’t hard to get Peter into bed; as soon as his head hit the pillow, he was asleep.  When he awoke later that night, he went out to sit in the living room for the first time in so long, and he even found himself striking up a conversation with Sam, who was the only other person occupying the space.

It was the first time in so long Peter had felt genuinely okay.  No restrained emotion gnawing at his stomach, or sadness trying to claw its way through his chest.  He just…  _ felt _ , and though he wasn’t perfect, the weight of his exhaustion and the trembling of anxiety was really the only stress he felt in that moment.  

Maybe…  Just maybe…  Peter could finally get onto the path he needed for recovery.


	16. Chapter 16

It was normal for Steve to need someone to accompany him on his errands into town, so when Peter was the only one available to help him, it was only natural Peter felt obligated to agree  despite his exhaustion; he didn’t want to see Captain America so trusting as he was scammed out of hundreds of dollars once again. Ever since the first time it had happened, Tony had berated him and ordered he be babysat wherever money was concerned.  It was probably a good thing, though; Steve tended to confuse himself on the worth of new and old currency anyway.

Of course, despite doing his best to keep himself appearing as chipper as he could for Steve’s sake, Peter still had that depression fatigue.  His mind was foggy as he followed Steve around the grocery store, so it didn’t take him long to get tired of listening to Steve complain about the price of milk these days.  To spare himself from a grumpy outburst, he mumbled, “I’m gonna wait in the car… Text me when you need me.” 

Steve nodded absentmindedly as he fingered the price tag and gazed longingly at it as if he were remembering better days.  Knowing Steve, he probably was - at least where prices were concerned anyway. 

Peter had expected for his journey out of the grocery store to be simple, so when he initially bumped into someone’s chest on his way out because he hadn’t looked up from his feet, he didn’t thought much of it; he’d apologised and continued on his way.  

At least, he’d attempted to do so, but someone grabbed his shoulder and stopped him.

“Sorry... “ Peter’s eyes lifted from his feet to look the person in the face, but when he found himself locking eyes with Thor, he froze.  

Thor’s gaze penetrated Peter’s entire being.  Not a word was said for what could very well have been an eternity until finally, Peter licked his lips and whispered, “Please…  I-I’m so tired of this…” 

Thor’s stare was unrelenting, and Peter had no idea how to interpret the god’s emotional cues.  Was Thor mad at him? Remorseful?  _ Hateful…?   _

Peter didn’t know, and he wasn’t sure he wanted to find out.

“Let him go, Thor.” 

Peter flinched at the name, and his heart raced with hopes that it had been Steve coming to the rescue - but alas, Steve still seemed to be somewhere inside the store and instead it was Thor’s friends, the ones who had vanished alongside him after Thanos had attacked. 

Thor did as told, and he stepped back for good measure.  The one Peter remembered was named Fandral stepped forward, and quietly he murmured, “We hoped we would never run into you again…” 

Peter grit his teeth at those words; after everything Thor had done,  _ he  _ was the one trying to run?  Well, it wasn’t fucking  _ fair!  Peter  _ hadn’t  _ asked  _ for  _ any  _ of it, so why was  _ Thor  _ pretending to be the victim?!  

Peter stepped forward, and with all the strength he could muster, he curled his hand into a fist and punched Thor in the jaw.  It didn’t faze Thor, and as he stood there in all his shitty glory, he looked as unaffected as if he’d just stood on an ant. 

“Fuck you!” Peter screamed as his fist spiraled forward for another round.  “Fuck you! Fuck you, fuck you -  _ Fuck.  You! _ ”

Thor didn’t even wince beneath the barrage of punches, but there was a strange glint in his eyes Peter had never seen in them before.  Steve eventually found his way between the two, pushing Peter behind him as he stood in front of Thor, prepared for anything. Thor’s friends stood off to the side, looking amongst each other as onlookers watched on with dropped jaws.

“Thor…” Steve’s tone was cold, and his expression was even colder.  Peter felt better at least to know that at least he could trust  _ Steve  _ to not abandon him for Thor.  “Thor, you’ve done  _ enough  _ to him…” 

Thor chewed at his lip.  His feet shuffled before finally, he gave two simple words that were delivered so stoically, Peter didn’t believe them at all.  “I’m sorry.” 

“No, you’re not!” Peter screamed.  He tried to push past Steve to get at Thor again, but Steve held him back.  “You’re a  _ liar!   _ You’re not sorry at all!” 

Steve’s eyebrows furrowed, and with the writhing Peter in his arms, he breathed, “You’re not sorry, are you, Thor…?” 

Thor shrugged.  Not a flicker of emotion crossed his face as he spoke so flatly, Steve couldn’t believe this was the god they’d once called their friend.  “No. I am not. My friends tell me I should be. But I do not know  _ how  _ to be.” 

Peter stopped his thrashing to whisper with eyes wide from emotional pain, “You don’t  _ want  _ to be sorry, Thor…”

Thor shrugged again.  “Yes. I know I did wrong.  I  _ acknowledged  _ it…  _ every  _ time you and my brother received my touch…  But still I did not care. I do not regret anything.  I regret only letting you and Loki  _ escape  _ from me.  I have no remorse and I do not care for forgiveness.  I speak to you right now only as someone who has been bested in combat.  Bound by my honour, I admit my defeat. Stormbreaker is yours - regretfully.” 

“Thor…” Steve’s grip on Peter’s forearm tightened.  His eyebrows furrowed further. “Thor, do you realise how ridiculous you’re being right now?  What you’ve done to Peter and Loki… And you speak of  _ honour _ …  You lacked all honour the moment you decided you could do these things to another living being…” 

Thor locked gazes with Steve now, but neither relented under the hard gazes.  “Maybe so. Rogers, you are one of the very few Midgardians I hold respect enough for to take orders from.  A warrior’s honour is different to a Midgardian’s. I respect you do not understand.” 

Peter broke free from Steve’s grasp now, fueled onwards by the savage rage building deep inside him at being put in Thor’s presence once more.  He barrelled forward, using all his strength to tackle Thor, and for the first time, he moved the god back a few steps. His arm swung out, and his nails connected with Thor’s neck, leaving bloody scrapes as they clawed downwards at the soft skin.  

“Don’t you talk about  _ honour  _ when you  _ humiliated  _ me and  _ dehumanised  _ me, bastard!” Peter screamed.  His eyes filled with tears of rage as he let out a hiss.  “I’m not…! I’m  _ not  _ your  _ playtoy!   _ I never  _ was _ !  I’m a  _ human,  _ and I have  _ rights!   _ I deserve…!”

Steve felt his heart break as Peter fell silent now to drag the heels of his palms down from his eyes to the bottoms of his cheeks.  “...” 

Peter continued on now, so soft, everyone had to lean in to hear him.  “...I deserve… to be  _ loved _ …  And treated with respect…  But  _ you _ …  You did such  _ disgusting  _ things to me, I can’t stay out of the shower because I  _ need  _ to rub my skin raw to get it all off me…  But I can’t… I’m going to be filthy for life…  And all because you wanted someone to torment!” 

Thor looked on, almost boredly.  “Do you hate me, Peter?” 

Peter let out a sob, but he didn’t hesitate to respond.  “No… You’re not… I don’t believe  _ anyone’s  _ completely evil…  If you  _ were  _ evil, you’d have killed me after I went down when Thanos attacked…  But the things you did to me, Thor, I will  _ never  _ forgive you for!  I can’t… I can’t  _ hate  _ you because I’ll only lose myself if I do…  But I… I want  _ nothing  _ to do with you -  _ ever _ .  I want to forget I ever had respect for you…  And as much as I wish I could, I know I’m never going to forget you; I have to  _ live  _ with all this!  But no… I don’t… hate you…” 

Thor gave a nod.  “As I told you, I hold no regret.  I would do it all over again in a heartbeat if I could.  But my honour as a warrior and my honour as  _ Thor  _ are two different things.  Stormbreaker chose you over me because there is something inside of you I do not possess, Peter.  That… is a fight I have truly lost, and can only accept.” 

Peter grit his teeth again.  “I tried to break your stupid axe.  I don’t  _ want  _ it!  I want  _ nothing  _ that reminds me of you!  Every time I close my eyes and try to sleep, I feel my skin crawl because it remembers your touch.  In my nightmares I see everything you did to me, over and over and  _ over  _ again, Thor…  I want  _ nothing  _ of yours to remind me of my suffering.” 

Thor shook his head.  “Keep Stormbreaker. If you wish to live the warrior lifestyle, you will need her.” 

“I need  _ nothing  _ but my  _ dignity  _ back!” Peter hissed. 

As carelessly as ever, Thor shrugged yet again.  A sly smirk crossed his face. “I own you, Peter.  Right now, I  _ own  _ you.  Your mind…  Your body… Your  _ sanity _ .  Breaking them is only start.  The  _ real  _ fun is when they fight back.  So next time we meet… I am interested in knowing just how much of my cute little pet I still own.” 

Peter’s hands clenched.  His eyes felt wet, but there were no tears.  His teeth grit loudly as he turned to glare at Steve as the others left.  “That guy… will  _ not  _ own me  _ forever _ …  I can’t let him have that satisfaction…” 

Steve put his hand on Peter’s shoulder and squeezed.  “He was right about one thing, though. That thing you have that Thor lacks?  Peter… You have a  _ heart _ .  The biggest heart I’ve ever seen.  Everything Thor lacks, you make up for it  _ tenfold _ .  One of you is worth a  _ thousand  _ Thors, Peter.  Never forget that.” 

Peter nodded.  He rubbed at the shoulder Thor had grabbed earlier, trying to dust away the god’s touch as if it were dirt, but it didn’t work; he still shuddered as the touch etched into his flesh through his clothing.  “I can’t hate him… But I sure as hell  _ can’t like him,  _ Cap!” 

“We’d be worried if you did,” Steve promised softly.  He wrapped his arm around the boy’s shoulders and pulled him closer.  “Peter… Listen to my rant about how expensive everything is now days?” 

Peter rubbed at his itching eyes as he nodded.  “Only if you’ll buy me ice cream on the way home…” 

“Can I get a milkshake?” 

“Deal.” Peter couldn’t smile, but still…  He felt that tiny bit lighter. He’d recognised the smugness in Thor when the god had thought he’d forever own Peter.  But Peter didn’t like smug people, and he liked wiping those smiles off peoples’ faces wherever he could.

Thor would be no different - except that this time,  _ Peter  _ would be the one wearing the smug smile when Thor realised Peter  _ could  _ heal properly; it was just going to take a long time. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This ended much sooner than I'd hoped it would :( Although, I am considering making this into a series of sorts. There was so much I wanted to do with this fic, and there's still so much I didn't get to explore and some questions left unanswered, but I feel it all would be best suited to fit into a series. This fic is already so heavy, I couldn't justify dragging it out to keep dumping drama in wherever I could. And honestly, I really really want to see Peter get better. So hopefully in the future once I get enough time and finish some of my in-progress fics, I can start on the second part ^_^ 
> 
> Since this is one of my most heaviest fics, I am very interested to hear peoples' opinions on everything, the good, the bad, their favourites and least favourites. It can only help me improve for the second part and hopefully make it even better than the first. No need to be shy ^_^ 
> 
> Thanks for enjoying it this far! The love a lot of you have had for this fic has truly meant the world to me ^_^


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